CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Chicago will be on the national stage next year when it hosts the Democratic National Convention, but a researcher is downplaying any major economic impact projections.
Victor Matheson’s studies have found prior political conventions did not live up to estimates.
The economics professor at College of the Holy Cross said they typically generate 29,000 additional hotel room nights, which means about an extra $20 million dollars for the hotel industry.
'It's really hard to get an overall economic impact in the hundreds of millions, when your single biggest economic contributor only adds up to about 20 (million)."
Hotel workers won’t see raises for those three days, so the inflated room prices will go to the company’s bottom line.
Restaurants, bars and catering companies connected to the convention sites do well, he said, but local businesses do not.
That’s due to what he calls “crowding out” - where residents and other regular visitors will avoid the area, because of the intense security, congestion and crowds.
"Even if there is economic activity that happens because of the convention, it tends to keep away lots of other types of economic activity, because regular visitors don't want to be coming downtown-don't want to be coming to Chicago at all," Matheson said.
He points to a 20 percent drop in Broadway show attendance during the 2004 RNC convention in New York City as proof.
When he taught at Lake Forest College, Matheson studied the economic impact of big sporting events like the Olympics and found they also fall short.
While many Chicago police officers will get paid overtime for working security, he said outside departments will be called upon for help and those cops will take their earnings back home.
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