Cut-Throat Competition to Lure Conventions Pits City Against City

With convention-center exhibit-hall space having expanded by 35% nationally over the past decade, and attendance having declined over the same period, the competition to fill America's vast convention centers has gotten intense, report Jennifer Levitz and Cameron McWhirter, who document how some cities are working to beat the competition.

"City convention bureaus are undercutting each other with offers of
freebies and incentives, such as free banners, breaks on rent and
donations to a trade organization's charity....Some convention centers have added casinos or theaters. In Nevada,
the Reno-Sparks Convention and & Visitors Authority is aiming to
lure bowling conventions with its sprawling bowling alley only open to
convention-goers. 'We have the Taj Mahal of bowling,' said Christopher
Baum, the authority's president."

Heywood Sanders, a professor of public administration at the University of Texas at San Antonio, "predicts the glut of
convention space will only get worse, because a number of cities
continue to push expansions," say Levitz and McWhirter. "He blames cities' hired consultants, who he
said predict 'all these people are going to come and do wonderful
things to your economy.'"

"But the problem is they aren't coming anymore, because there are
lots of other convention centers ... that desperately want that
business," he said. "So Atlanta steals from Boston, Orlando steals from
Chicago and Las Vegas steals from everywhere."