The Tour of California ended Sunday February 22 in Escondido, capping a spectacular nine-day event, as Levi Leipheimer supported by teammate Lance Armstrong won his third consecutive tour. Drawn in part by Armstrong’s participation, an estimated 2 million spectators lined California roads and highways to watch the fourth edition of the race.
Not content with stating that the 2009 event had set a Tour of California record for attendance, the tour broadcaster, Versus, announced not once but twice that the 2 million spectators made the 2009 tour the largest sports event in California history. Don’t believe it. It’s not even close to being true. The 1984 Olympic Games sold and distributed about 5.5 million tickets for events in California. In addition, the California Highway Patrol estimated that 275,000 non-ticket holding spectators watched the 1984 road cycling events in Orange County, and approximately 310,000 fans watched the men’s and women’s marathons from the roadside. So, even without counting the Olympic torch relay spectators, the 1984 Olympic Games was three times as big as the 2009 Tour of California, and the vast majority of Olympic spectators, unlike tour spectators, paid for their tickets.
Ticket sales in 1984 were just one of the revenue sources that enabled Olympic organizers to realize a $232.5 million surplus. Sixty percent of the surplus was directed to the United State Olympic Committee; the other 40 percent was used to establish the LA84 Foundation, which has invested more than $177 million in youth sports in Southern California.
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