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LONNY GOLDSMITH
StaffWriter
T
he Jewish Community
Center Maccabi Games will
kick hundreds of thousands
of dollars into the local
economy next month, according to
hotel, restaurant and JCC officials.
Mort Plotnick, director of develop-
ment for the JCC, estimates that —
counting coaches, delegation heads,
chaperons as well as athletes and fami-
ly members — 1,500 adults will come
here for the games. The games, which
begin their week-long run Aug. 16 at
The Palace of Auburn Hills, are an
Olympic-style event for 13-to-16-year-
old Jewish athletes.
Hotel operators and restaurateurs
say they hope these games will be even
more profitable than they were in
1984 and 1990, Detroit's two previous
years as host. The games are three
times as large this year as they were in
1984 and 50 percent larger than in
1990.
The Holiday Inn Southfield will be
the host hotel for the coaches and del-
egation heads for that week.
According to sales manager Don
Todd, 330 of the 414 rooms will be
occupied by Maccabi visitors, many of
whom are staying the whole week.
"We've dealt with groups that use
150 or 200 rooms," Todd said.
"Rarely do we get something of this
magnitude."
The Holiday Inn is charging
Maccabi guests $95 per night, down
from the usual $109.
- "We're displacing business that
week, but this is something we wanted
to do in support of the games," Todd
said.
Novi's Doubletree Guest Suites
Hotel has booked rooms for people
coming to town for Maccabi on the
Friday before the games start and stay-
ing through the week. At its high
point, 125 rooms will be booked, and
that number won't drop below 63.
The Maccabi visitors will pay $110 for
a room, $30 less than the usual rate.
According to Phil Diponio in the
hotel's reservation office, 200 of the
hotel's 217 rooms were blocked off
more than a year ago by planners for
the games.
At the Southfield Doubletree, 50
rooms were originally blocked off, but
quickly went over that. It's now esti-
mated that around 150 rooms, over
half of the 239-room capacity, will be
filled with Maccabi guests. The aver-
age cost per night is $114.
7/31
1998
8 Detroit Jewish News
The JCC
Maccabi
Games
will have
cash registers ringin
g
The Radisson Plaza Hotel at Town
Center, also in Southfield, has taken
reservations for Maccabi visitors. At its
peak, at least 69 rooms will be used,
with the number tailing off to 33 for
Aug. 22, the last night of games. At
$99 per night, almost half of the regu-
lar rate, the hotel could still gross
more than $35,000. •
Overall, "I would guess that the
area will make between $750,000 and
$1.25 million during the games," said
Plotnick.
However, athletes from outside of
Detroit — 2,700 — will be staying
with 1,400 host families.
"The athletes will want to buy sou-
venirs, but they probably won't spend
much money," said Plotnick. "The
host families will probably take the
athletes out for meals when they can."
Host families are responsible for
serving the athletes breakfast before
they head to the JCC for their sport-
ing events.
Coaches are entitled to eat lunch at
the Center each day, excluding
Shabbat, and are also served at the
Thursday night activity, a barbecue at
Maybury State Park.
Still, restaurant owners in the area
around the JCC are expecting a suc-
cessful week.
Scott Lutz takes a
shot on goal in
Pittsburgh last year.
Tony Belli, co-owner of E.G. Nicks
on Maple Road in West Bloomfield,
recalls 1990 being a busy time and is
bracing for this year's event. "We're
already trying t6 get staffing," he said.
"For us, it brings in people all during
the day, which generally doesn't hap-
pen."
Belli said he expects his eatery to
"benefit immeasurably. A week like
this brings viability on an economic_
vein."
Steve Goldberg, owner of the Stage
& Co. delicatessen on Orchard Lake
Road in West Bloomfield, is expecting
a 25 percent increase in business, as
well as an increase in customers dur-
ing what are usually off-peak hours.
Robert Jacobs, the owner of
Buddy's Pizza on Northwestern
Highway in Farmington Hills, said the
games brought increased trade in 1990
and he expects they will again.
According to Sherree Hall, head of
the Pittsburgh delegation, the coaches
will be looking for their own evening
activities after their responsibility for
the athlete ends.
"It's definitely an opportunity to
meet people and network," Hall said.
"There's enough Pittsburgh coaches
that know each other, and we've all
met people in the past."
Hall expressed interest in going to a
Detroit Tigers baseball game on Frida
evening or Saturday, when there is no
athletic competition and the athletes
are with their host families.
The games will run for a week here.
For the last six years, they were 5-day
events, and that didn't allow for much
down time, said Philadelphia delega-
tion head Bill Brody.
"Coaches never had much time to
get out and spend money once they
got back from the evening activities,"
he said. "But the parents come in and
spend a lot of money because they pay
for all their meals and go out in the
evenings."
Brody thinks that 90 families of the
130 Philadelphia athletes will be trav-
eling to see their children participate.
In 1994, the soccer teams from the
United States, Brazil, Sweden,
Romania, Switzerland and Russia
came to play World Cup matches at
the Pontiac Silverdome. Fans from the
foreign countries totaled nearly
50,000, and put $60-$80 million into
the economies of not just the host
city, but Southfield, Birmingham, Troy
and Flint.
"Pontiac took advantage of the
opportunity to entertain at least
10,000 to 15,000 people every night,"
said Roger Faulkner, the chairman of
the Michigan Host Committee for the
1994 World Cup. "The other wonder-
ful thing is that many people hadn't
been overseas, and people will now
talk of Detroit the same way they talk
about Olympic cities."
While Faulkner doesn't have the
breakdown of where the money was
spent, he figures, like Plotnick does for
the Maccabi Games, that hotel and
restaurant business was strongest.
"I'm not sure how much of that is
incremental, because it's a time of year
when they're doing good business any-
way," Faulkner said. "If we had anoth-
er chance to host, we'd do a better sur-
vey of the numbers after the event."-
The games could be a money-
maker for the JCC, which has budget-
ed $1 million to reserve venues for the
opening ceremonies and athletic
events, food, transportation and
equipment. Fees from athlete and
coach registrations and from sponsor-
ships and other donors could amount
to more than the $1 million.
But, "This isn't a fund-raiser," said
JCC Executive Director David Sorkin.
"Often, due to fees and sponsorships
doing well, there is a surplus. Any sur-
plus is a secondary benefit."