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Study: Mission Viejo sports events generated about $8.2 million in local output and supported 98 jobs
Summary
A consultant presented an economic and fiscal impact study of 15 events held July 2023–June 2024, reporting roughly $8.0M in direct spending from 11 sports events, about 6,700 room nights in Mission Viejo and an estimated 98 jobs supported; council members asked about methodology and hotel capture rates.
Walter Franco of Victus Advisors presented a study of 15 events in Mission Viejo held between July 2023 and June 2024 and said the 11 sports events produced roughly $8.0 million in direct spending and supported about 98 local jobs. He told the council the analysis combined event organizer data, Placer cell‑phone origin data and IMPLAN modeling to estimate net new economic activity.
"The net new economic impacts from the sports event for direct spending was a little bit over $8,000,000," Franco said, adding that total economic output and wages were each about $8.2 million and that the events generated nearly 6,700 room nights in Mission Viejo. Franco noted that about 90% of visits for those events were from outside the city and that roughly 25% of those out‑of‑city visits involved overnight stays.
Councilmembers pressed for clarity about what the counts include and how overnight stays were assigned. Franco said the study separated total visits reported by event organizers from the out‑of‑city visits identified in Placer data, and then split those into day trips versus overnight stays. "The total visits here you're seeing is the out of Mission Viejo visits," he said, and confirmed Mission Viejo residents were counted separately in the organizers' totals.
Councilmember Goodell and others pointed to the city's limited hotel inventory as a constraint on capturing lodging tax revenue; Franco agreed, saying communities with dedicated sports tourism facilities and more hotel rooms tend to capture a much higher share of room nights and lodging tax. The presentation highlighted that Mission Viejo's transient occupancy tax rate (8%) amplifies fiscal benefits when room nights are captured by in‑city hotels.
The council did not take formal action on the presentation but thanked staff and the consultant for the report and opened the study for further council and staff follow up on how to increase hotel capture and pursue larger regional events.
