The GoPro Mountain Games’ flipping slackliners, spinning kayakers and leaping dogs sparked a nearly $5 million weekend last month for the town of Vail.
The 14th annual Mountain Games — an outdoor sports and music festival that traditionally kicks off the summer season for the Vail Valley — drew a record crowd of more than 62,000 spectators June 4-7, up from 58,000 last year.
An independent survey commissioned by Mountain Games owner Vail Valley Foundation showed the circus of athletes, artists and musicians fueled $4.9 million in economic impact for Vail and its businesses, compared with $4.5 million in 2014.
The Mountain Games perennially helps swell Vail’s tax coffers in June. Sales tax collections for the month have climbed to from $17.9 million in 2009, the depths of the recession.
Last month’s tax collections have not been tallied, but town leaders expect growth.
Vail town manager Stan Zemler said the mountain games crowds are increasingly diverse, with lots of families and newcomers as well as longtime fans who maybe once slept in their cars and are now sleeping in hotels.
“It’s such a very, very diverse crowd,” said Zemler, noting how mountain games spectators run the gamut versus more targeted crowds for the valley’s summertime dance, jazz, bluegrass, orchestra and pro cycling events.
“It takes the town of the after-winter, spring doldrums and kicks off the summer in a fun way, almost overnight,” Zemler said.
GoPro, the $7.45 billion California camera juggernaut that , sees the event as more than a marketing platform. The camera maker’s — essentially becoming a media company to bolster sales of its high-definition point-of-view cameras — is amplified during the Mountain Games, where nearly all of the 300 athletes competing in 25 contests sported cameras mounted to helmets, paddles, boats, boards, bikes and even hounds.
GoPro’s three-year sponsorship contract ended last month, but the company is negotiating a renewal.
“We certainly have a commitment from GoPro and we feel very sure that this is moving ahead,” foundation marketing chief Duncan Horner said. “I think GoPro has a lot of interest in evolving the Mountain Games.”
The Vail Valley Foundation counts the Mountain Games weekend as a chance to expose Vail to younger visitors and families who might not be familiar with the resort town.
The foundation’s survey showed 38 percent of the event’s spectators do not visit Vail at any other time in the summer and 43 percent do not visit in the winter. But 21 percent of the visitors have been to six or more Mountain Games, revealing a loyal following.
The mountain games has evolved from the Jeep Whitewater Championships kayak race down the Eagle River’s daunting Dowd Chute more than 15 years ago into a valley-wide outdoor festival, that now also includes photo and film competitions, gear exhibits and nightly concerts.
NBC filmed the event this year — the games will be part of the network’s “World Of Adventure” program set to air Aug. 1 — reaching a potential television audience of 197 million.
This year the foundation added disc golf to the line-up and more new events likely will debut in 2016. And the event may grow beyond Vail Village into the neighboring Lionshead Village or even further downvalley.
“It’s always about trying to identify the next big thing and create a forum for those athletes to be recognized. That’s what the Mountain Games have always been about,” Horner said. “Right now there are a lot of questions about where we can go with biking, dogs and new trails. It’s all on the table. One thing we know is that we are really outgrowing our space. That’s a good problem to have.”
Jason Blevins: 303-954-1374, jblevins@denverpost.com or twitter.com/jasonblevins
