There are two nationally televised events making their way to Sheboygan County this summer, but those events will be affecting the economy throughout Eastern Wisconsin.
One of those events is the NASCAR Cup Series Race at Road America, which has Kwik Trip as the presenting sponsor, and Kenosha-based Jockey International was recently named as the title sponsor. We spoke with Mary Lou Haen, the Marketing Director at Road America, who explained that even without that event, they are responsible for a large amount of tourism in the area.
“Our initial first-tier economic impact is about $43 to 50 million a year in tourism impact,” she explained. “If you look at our second and third tier of impact…(and the fact that) we employ about 500 seasonal employees and how they spend their money, you are looking at over $100 million in economic impact a year in all this residual effect.”
The event, now known as the Jockey Made in America 250 presented by Kwik Trip is scheduled for July 4th, with other events in the area going on alongside the main event.
Another major event, which was actually supposed to come last year, is the Ryder Cup, which will be held at Whistling Straights golf course in Kohler. We asked Jason Mengel, the 2020 Ryder Cup Director if this event would actually affect the surrounding area.
He responded with an emphatic “Oh yeah.”
“We will have guests from Chicago to Milwaukee to Green Bay out to Appleton,” he told Seehafer News. “So it really is an impactful event for the entire region and certainly for the entire state and more specifically Manitowoc and Sheboygan Counties.”
He went on to say that, assuming the event scheduled for September 21st through the 26th can be held in full, the economic impact for the area would be huge.
“You can anticipate a positive impact of about $135 million to the area,” Mengel said. “We will also create over 1300 temporary jobs, some in the area for months. Also, the coverage of the Ryder Cup will be significantly impactful especially for a community like Wisconsin, who’s so tourism-focused and driven.”
For more information on the NASCAR race, visit RoadAmerica.com, and for details on the Ryder Cup, go to RyderCup.com.