Dept. Of Apocryphal Claims: The Arts Bring More Money To Philadelphia Than Sports
It is, perhaps, the ultimate Philly nerds-versus-jocks slam dunk, but can it possibly be true? Because it’s what Amy Murphy of the Arden Theater claims in this piece in today’s Metro. Now, Murphy has a point to make here, and whether the claim is apocryphal or not, the fact remains that the arts in PA (and very, very specifically Philadelphia) are being unfairly targeted by Harrisburg. But… really? If you added up every concert ticket and theater endowment and everything else in the arts economy in Philly, would it really top every Eagles jersey and order of crab fries and everything else in Philly’s robust sports economy? We’d love to believe it, but… we don’t.
May 14th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
I believe it.
And the Eagles jersey thing is in itself apocryphal. For every $80 jersey sold at Modell’s probably $10 goes to the store, zero taxes because it’s clothing, and the rest gets split among the NFL, Jeff Lurie and the factory in China that it was made in.
May 14th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
side note: i know you’re searching for links, what with the philly.com boycott – but note that this article is from YESTERDAY’S Metro …
carry on
May 14th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
@ DJRobertDrake
Sweeney & Philebrity are still in a time warp due their illness.
May 14th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
@ Allan Smithee
… in that case, Joey I’ll put a tenner down that the Phils will lose to the Dodgers tonight by seven runs!
;)
May 14th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Ugh. You people. Strangely, tho, the story is still running on the Metro’s front page:
http://www.metro.us/us/news/philly/
So put that it your pipe, and then, uh, put your pipe up your ass.
May 14th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
@ tips
For the complete Daily Metro, on a timely basis, type:
http://www.readmetro.com
and follow the links to the Philly edition.
May 14th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
That weird PDF reader thing can eat a plate of dicks.
May 14th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
re: That weird PDF reader thing can eat a plate of dicks.
The Fishtown Spirit is weirder. Too bad they got rid of the page turning sound.
May 14th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
I don’t know how much sports brings in, but according the the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance’s 2008 Portfolio,
-GPCA organizations raised $1.2 billion in total revenue
-more than $657 million was from tickets, rentals, concessions, investments and other sources
Their report is here: http://philaculture.org/research/reports/2008-portfolio
From a tourism standpoint, obviously the more arts we have the more attractive we are for tourists, and we know that in 2008, the Greater Philadelphia tourism industry accounted for $9.32 billion in total economic impact.
And thanks to my trusty research dept here at the tourism office for helping me nerd out on this.
May 14th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
@cb
When you stay at a hotel in the Philadelphia region, 1% of the taxes go towards the GPTMC. So it should come as no surprise that the organization is invested in promoting campaigns such as “Philly’s More Fun When You Sleep Over” and the like. These campaigns have increased hotel stays in the region by 55% since 1997.
These numbers, though useful, are only pieces of the puzzle. Remember that they come from the organization as a means to legitimize their existence. Figuring out the actual tax revenue for cultural organizations has to take into account a variety of other factors including, but not limited to: tax breaks they have been given, tax abatements on their buildings, etc. What one might see is that the figure often quoted as the tax income ($1.49 billion) is much lower than we’d like to believe.
While there is no doubt in my mind that the people who work for cultural organizations are there because of their commitment to and love of the the arts, the “X brings more money to Philadelphia than Y” argument exists to wield power in local/regional politics.
May 14th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
@katy p
Fair enough, but I’m fine with the arts wielding more power than Comcast Spectacor and Jeff Lurie.
May 14th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
@katy p – sorry, I didn’t make it clear that I actually work for GPTMC (I can’t change my name on here to reflect that — tips?)
I know the research into how much revenue orgs bring in is a tricky game. We have a nifty “tip of the iceburg” illustration in the back of our just-released annual report that speaks to your point.
In my view, whether it’s arts or sports, I say, let’s have more of it!