The May 16 time trial stage of the Amgen Tour—set to take place in the city’s downtown and through the rolling hills west of town—will turn Morgan Hill into a cycling fanatic’s paradise for the day.
City officials and tourism proponents hope the event and its worldwide broadcast will have a much longer lasting impact here.
The Amgen Tour of California is one of the more prestigious races in the cycling world. About 120 elite professional cyclists will compete in the seven-day, seven-stage (three stages for women) race that goes from Long Beach to Sacramento, with stops at various communities in between.
“It has national and international attention,” Morgan Hill Economic Development Director Edith Ramirez told the city council at the Dec. 20 meeting. “The race (was) broadcast in over 200 countries, with 60 million viewers” in 2017.
Thus the question of whether the City of Morgan Hill should shoulder up to $55,000 for local costs associated with the May 16 time trial and related activities seemed like a no-brainer for the council, which voted 5-0 to approve the expense Dec. 20.
The Amgen Tour, which is owned by Anschutz Entertainment Group, has not officially announced its final list of 2018 host cities, but is expected to do so in the coming weeks.
Specifically, the city will spend up to $40,000 from the general fund on costs associated with road closures and traffic control along the 22-mile time trial course that starts and ends in downtown Morgan Hill. Amgen Tour host cities are all responsible for such costs, according to a city staff report.
The city’s expenses will also include up to $15,000 for “marketing and branding” for the City of Morgan Hill, including the production of a 30-second commercial to be during television coverage of the May 16 time trial stage, according to city staff.
Ramirez said while city staff and event promoters can’t estimate an amount of sales and hotel tax revenues—and other residual income—that could result from the Amgen Tour, it is possible that this economic benefit will more than offset the city’s costs. A large portion of this benefit will result from hundreds of hotel room stays—for which the city collects a 10 percent per night per room tax—for the time trial racers, their teams and spectators.
The inconvenience to local residents is not lost on city officials, as the Amgen Tour “Stage 4” men’s time trial will require the full closure of the race route, which is expected to loop from downtown Morgan Hill westward into the unincorporated hills along Oak Glen Avenue and north to Bailey Avenue before returning along Hale Avenue. The time trial will start on the west side of Monterey Road at East Dunne Avenue, with the finish line at Monterey Road and Fourth Street.
Councilmember Rene Spring noted that May 16 is a Wednesday, which is a normal workday for local residents who commute. The event will likely pose some inconvenience to those residents, Spring said.
Ramirez noted that some roads along the route outside downtown won’t be closed during the day’s heavy commute hours, as the time trial is scheduled for 11am to 4pm.
Road closures downtown will begin May 15 as Amgen Tour organizers set up for a Lifestyle Festival that will take place during the May 16 time trial. This festival will be hosted by Amgen Tour of California, and will feature several tents for sponsor products, hospitality and other cycling industry promotions. The festival will take place on Monterey Road between Main Avenue and Third Street.
Although Spring is “not as confident” as Ramirez and others about the possible economic windfall from the Amgen Tour in Morgan Hill, he joined his council colleagues in supporting the May 16 host city designation. He also agreed with a suggestion from an audience member to organize a less formal bicycle ride along the time trial route in the days before the Amgen Tour, which could serve as a fundraiser for local organizations and a promotion for the May 16 race.
The Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Association offered their enthusiastic support for bringing the Amgen Tour to town, citing the revenues coming directly from the presence of hundreds of professional athletes and their road crews, as well as potentially thousands of spectators during the event. These organizations are also excited about the worldwide exposure that Morgan Hill will gain as the Amgen Tour is broadcast on live international television.
The city is also hoping to implement a Tourism Based Improvement District among the local hotels as another effort to fund the Amgen Tour costs, Ramirez said. This program would levy an additional tax on guests at Morgan Hill hotels, all revenue from which would be directed toward to efforts for “promoting and branding the community” and attracting events that bring visitors from out of town.
Past experience
Proponents note that time trials are vastly more spectator-friendly than other stages of a race such as the Amgen Tour, as the event lasts all afternoon in one location rather than quickly passing through the area. During a time trial, individual cyclists start out one at a time, staggered throughout the late morning and afternoon about two minutes apart.
The City of Solvang, in Santa Barbara County, hosted an Amgen Tour time trial from 2008 to 2011. Solvang City Manager Brad Vidro said the overall impact on the community was positive, especially over the long term.
Solvang gained repeated media exposure as well as the presence of teams training along the route in the weeks leading up to the Amgen Tour, Vidro said. He cited hotel taxes and food sales among the big money makers for Solvang.
“In the longer term, you get that exposure,” Vidro said. “The spectators…want to come see the area. We think that went on for years later.”
Solvang also organized a “ride the route” promotion before the official event each year, for which individual riders paid $800 or more to participate. These efforts went to directly offset the City of Solvang’s costs for being an Amgen Tour host city.
Vidro said he couldn’t place a specific dollar value on the Amgen Tour’s impact on Solvang. The city, which has a population of about 5,400, stopped hosting the Amgen Tour in 2011 because the immediate costs for road closure and traffic control grew prohibitive.
He also acknowledged, “A lot of the locals didn’t like it so much because we were blocking roads, impeding access. With a time trial, you’ve got to completely close the loop” to vehicle traffic.
Cities in California along the Amgen Tour route typically compete to host a stage or time trial during the event, Ramirez said. In Morgan Hill, however, the City of San Jose and the San Jose Sports Authority offered to co-host the May 16 time trial with Morgan Hill.
City staff said they have already notified the school district about potential traffic disruptions associated with the Amgen Tour, and will begin getting the word out to local residents and businesses.
