roa 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."