Utah's 2008 Dew Tour Stop One of Most Successful Stops Ever
Utah enthusiastically welcomed the return of the AST Dew Tour to Salt Lake City is September, netting millions of dollars in economic impact and many hours of national and international television exposure for Utah, according to data compiled by the Utah Sports Commission and the AST Dew Tour.
The tour's 2008 Toyota Challenge, held September 11-14, was the largest televised multi-sport and multi-venue event since the 2002 Olympics and was also the highest attended event in the history of the Dew Tour.
"We could not have been more pleased with the success of the Toyota Challenge and the way our citizens came out to support the event, which provided tremendous economic impact to our great state," said Governor Jon Huntsman.
Jeff Robbins, president and CEO of the Utah Sports Commission, said the growth and success of this year's event is another example that Utah continues to be a prominent location that is well positioned to host major action and adventure sports events.
Highlights from this year's event include:
- Approximately $13 million in economic impact to the State of Utah
- Approximately $6 million in TV media/broadcast and related image building exposure to Utah
- The largest crowd to ever attend the four day event in Dew Tour history--almost 64,000
- Largest crowd in the world to ever attend a skateboard park event (Ryan Sheckler's event)--approximately 14,000
- Highest single day attendance in Dew Tour history-- approximately 26,000 (Saturday)
- Largest Dew Tour crowd to attend an FMX event-- approximately 26,000 (Saturday)
- 350 of the top action sports athletes in the world participated in the four day event, which also included the Free Flow action sports competition
- First BMX Supercross competition held since the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics
- Cable channel Mun2's (Moon-Dos), part of the NBC Universal owned Telemundo Network, program "Mun2 On the Road," which is a show that travels the country and highlights America's Greatest Cities, came to Salt Lake City and produced a special episode on Utah and the Toyota Challenge. Mun2 is available in 11 million homes across United States
- 6 1/2 hours of national programming of the Toyota Challenge from Salt Lake City on NBC and USA Network
Two hours of national programming coming on MTV2 (September 24 and October 4) featuring BMX dirt and skate park competitions from Salt Lake City - Footage from the event will be featured on "AST: Contenders," a four hour lifestyle program on MTV2
NBC's Saturday and Sunday live broadcasts were simulcast in Europe via Eurosport2 and in Australia on Fox Sports Australia to 33 million homes - Fuel TV and Mountain Dew produced a 30 minute program called "Dew Underground" that will air 23 times (11.5 hours total) on Fuel TV to a audience of 24 million homes. The "Dew Underground" Salt Lake City program will highlight the culture of the city including the music, art, and action sports scene
- Two feature articles in the USA Today on the Toyota Challenge Salt Lake City stop. First article ran September 3 about the BMX supercross race. The second article ran on September 10 about BMX park athlete Mike Spinner
- 60 second live interview by NBC with Governor Huntsman broadcast live on NBC nationally as well as live in primetime to Europe and live in Australia
- 15 percent more viewership nationally on Saturday than any other Dew Tour event in history
- Eight 30-second ad spots ran nationally on NBC to promote Utah
"Utah certainly understands how to take on big events and make them bigger," said AST president Wade Martin. "This year's Salt Lake City event was a tremendous success."
With Utah playing host to major sporting events that provide both significant economic impact and global exposure, it once again highlights the value and important role hosting these key sporting events play in building Utah's economy and promoting Utah world-wide, Robbins added.