Though the year is still young, the Spokane Convention Center already has generated $61.9 million in estimated economic impact for Spokane-area businesses, says Spokane Public Facilities District CEO Kevin Twohig.

That’s far ahead of the 2015 pace in which the economic impact to the city for the entire year was $75.1 million, Twohig says.

In 2014, the convention center had an overall estimated economic impact of $51 million. The PFD owns and operates the convention center. Those figures don’t include the INB Performing Arts Center, which also is owned and operated by the PFD.

“We’re off to a phenomenal start for 2016 and there’s still nine more months to book,” Twohig says.

He adds, “There is a formula that is used to calculate economic impact that really takes a minimum of about three hours to explain. But simply put, economic impact calculates what convention delegates spend when they’re in the Spokane market. Hotel stays, restaurants, transportation, retail, those are some of the biggest factors used to measure economic impact.”

This year, March may end up being the Spokane Convention Center’s busiest month, Twohig says. Its website shows at least 17 events being held there this month, ranging in length and size from one day with 250 people to multiple days and drawing thousands of attendees. 

The Convention Center hosted the Washington Middle School Basketball Championships March 11-13. Twelve regulation-size basketball courts were laid down in the main exhibit halls for the three-day tournament. The tournament hosted the top seventh and eighth grade boys and girls teams from across the state. Twohig estimates the event drew more than 15,000 people for the weekend.

Connor Sport Court International Inc., of Salt Lake City, laid synthetic wood courts for hoop participants to play on. “We worked from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for two days before the tournament started to get all the courts down,” says Nick Dulin, a construction manager for the company.

Says Twohig, “We ended up having to bring in more portable bleachers to accommodate spectators. We didn’t know there would be that many people.”

Convention Center Event Manager Matt Meyer says as soon as the basketball championships ended, the 12 basketball courts were immediately removed, and by the middle of the week, 18 volleyball courts were set for USA Volleyball’s annual Pacific Northwest Qualifier taking place the weekends of March 18-20 and 25-27.

Approximately 640 volleyball teams are expected to draw at least 20,000 people combined for the two weekends. More than 13,000 hotel rooms in Spokane are booked for the back-to-back weekends of volleyball.

“These three consecutive weekends of events are just big for us,” Twohig says.

He says the $50 million, 92,000-square-foot convention center expansion project completed in December of 2014 is accomplishing exactly what it was intended to do.

“The convention center has turned into a building people really like being in,” Twohig says. “You can build big buildings, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be a facility people will want to utilize.”

In addition to helping generate economic impact, he says the convention center was designed to easily connect its users to Riverfront Park, the Centennial Trail, and the Spokane River.

“It’s tightly connected to the river’s edge; it’s a significant thing we accomplished. We continue to receive great feedback from people outside the area who come here for events,” Twohig says.

Through the first nine months of 2015, the three facilities owned and operated by the Spokane Public Facilities District generated more net income than in all of 2010, one of the district’s most profitable years. Final figures for 2015 won’t be available until April, Twohig says.

The convention center, Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena, and the INB Performing Arts Center all fall under the district’s purview. The three facilities posted slightly more than $2 million in net income through the first nine months of 2015. Through the first nine months of 2012 through 2014, the three facilities had net income of $1.7 million, $1.5 million, and $1.8 million, respectively. In 2010, the PFD collected just more than $2 million in net income for the three facilities for the entire year.

The convention center posted back-to-back months of profit last year, earning $255,400 in August and $64,500 in September, says Twohig.

Convention centers typically operate at an annual loss. “However, anytime it can generate income, it ends up being a bonus,” Twohig says.

The PFD has always used profits from both the arena and the performing arts center to subsidize convention center deficits.

Twohig says he’s not prepared to say that 2016 will amount to a record earnings year for the PFD.

“It’s just too early to start making proclamations about 2016 when we’re still in the process of booking for the year,” he says.