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Pierce County Executive Responds to Newspaper Portrayal of Chambers Bay Finances

Former Pierce County Executive John Ladenberg responded sharply to a Seattle newspaper article questioning the financial viability and impact on the local economy of Chambers Bay Golf Links, site of the 2015 U.S. Open and 2010 U.S. Amateur.

Responding to an article that said Chambers Bay operates at a loss that cannot be offset by anticipated U.S. Open gate receipts, Ladenberg wrote in a letter to the editor:

“Chambers Bay golf course was not designed to be just another course but a tournament and tourist economic development attraction. Yet, every year The News Tribune does a budget-revenue analysis without any consideration of the course’s real goals.

Ironically, you publish a photograph of a golfer from Chicago on the course. Someone might have asked that golfer what hotel he stayed in, where he ate his meals, if he rented a car.

A real analysis of the success of Chambers Bay would be to find out how much sales tax, car rental tax and hotel tax was paid by the thousands of out-of-town visitors the course attracts every year. Our hotel, restaurants and businesses profit from the extra tourism. University Place alone makes tens of thousands of dollars a year on admissions tax, but that was ignored.

In 2015, the U.S. Open golf tournament comes to Chambers Bay. Conservative estimates of its economic impact are in the range of $140 million. By the way, that impact alone is seven times what the course cost. By any honest economic analysis, the course is a huge success.”

Other writers and golf experts were also skeptical of the News Tribune article, written by someone who is not a sports writer.

“I don’t think the writer saw the bigger picture or really looked at anything other than a limited view expressed on one narrow balance sheet,” said one golf analyst who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Chambers Bay is a remarkable success story. So much so that it’s concepts are being emulated at courses around the world. Everyone tries to draw a U.S. Open to their courses. John Ladenberg did it, and he did it with a public course. Chambers Bay is one of the icons of sports in the Pacific Northwest. It’s just another example of how the ethos and virtue of golf transcends such petty concepts as “the last dollar on the table.””

Ladenberg was the driving force behind the pacific Northwest finally getting a U.S. Open.
He sat for an interview with AWITP earlier this year. We will run that interview tomorrow.