Colorado Springs Retains USOC Headquarters, Positive Spillovers for Denver?

Civic leaders in Colorado Springs are celebrating their city's successful efforts to retain the United States Olympic Committee's (USOC) headquarters. See here for the city memo which describes this full details of the arrangement between the city and the USOC and here for a summary of the key points.

As reported in the Colorado Springs Gazette, the city and a private developer are offering the USOC $53 million in incentives to relocate their administrative offices to a new six story downtown office building at Colorado Avenue and Tejon Street (See rendering above. Note both images in this Blog entry are from the Gazette's website). Another near-by office building, formerly occupied by a city utility, will be made available for several national sports governing bodies. Public officials believe the activity generated by these two buildings will help revitalize the downtown district in Colorado Springs. The USOC training center at Union Blvd. and Boulder Street (see photo below from the Gazette 's web site) will be redeveloped and renovated with additional living and training facilities constructed for athletes. Colorado Springs will retain thousands of jobs, millions of dollars in economic activity and will have the right to officially associate the city with the Olympic brand.

Since this is a a blog about economic development in the Denver region, you might be asking "Why are you writing about Colorado Springs?" First, although Colorado Springs is not in the Metro Denver Region, its only 70 miles from downtown Denver to Colorado Springs, close enough for there to be substantial economic spillover effects between the two metro areas. One of Metro Denver's biggest weaknesses as a regional economic entity is that it only receives limited spillover traffic and activity from near-by economic entities, unlike cities in the northeast corridor, on the west coast or in Texas for example. A more prosperous Colorado Springs will ultimately benefit the entire Front Range and Denver region. The spillover benefits become even more clear when you consider that the likely alternative location for the USOC was Chicago.

Second, if the Denver region is serious about efforts to win the right to host a Winter or Summer Olympics, the presence of the USOC and the accompanying dignitaries and officials just down the road in the Springs is a major advantage.

Third, this retention helps reinforce the State of Colorado's "global brand" as place with an appealing sports-oriented outdoor lifestyle. The USOC would be welcomed in any community in America but its decision to stay in Colorado speaks volumes about quality of life in the state.

Congratulations to Denver's friends to the south.