Removal Of All-Star Game to Cost Georgia Tourism $100M? Not Likely, Holy Cross Economics Professor Says

Officials in the state of Georgia say Major League Baseball's decision to move the All-Star Game from Atlanta, in protest of the state’s controversial new voting law, will cost local businesses close to $100M. But is that a realistic estimate?

The Guardian recently sought the insight of Victor Matheson, professor of economics at Holy Cross and a renowned sports economist, on this issue. Matheson, who has done extensive research on the economic impact of large scale sporting events on the host cities, believes that typically the real economic impact is a "fraction of the numbers that were predicted ahead of time."

"The rule of thumb that I always tell everyone is just take whatever number the boosters are telling you, move the decimal one place to the left and you've probably got a pretty good guess," says Matheson. "There's no real reason that you should believe economic impact numbers that are commissioned by people who are made to look good by big economic impact numbers."

To read the full article, go to TheGuardian.com.