First things first, that picture is not particularly of a race from Kansas City; it's just a picture of people running a race and I thought it would look good there.
Runner's World is reporting that Kansas City, Missouri's City Council voted to raise the cost of a permit to host a race. Logically those increased fees will require higher entry fees or more sponsors, perhaps a combination.
It's not difficult to see the city's point of view: they say current permit fees do not cover the city's cost in providing things like street closures to accommodate the races. I'm not arguing that point.
No, this whole post is because I think it will be interesting to see whether things work for Kansas City the way they think it will. They seem to believe that increasing the fee will have no impact on the number of races that are hosted there; from that it allows them to project that they will raise up to $65,000 per year...enough to cover the city's costs.
What if the presumption proves to be wrong? What if race organizers decide the cost is too high? Then the revenue the city expects won't be there. (Then again, the city also won't have as many expenses because of fewer races to patrol)
So what do you think? Will the fee increase curtail road races in Kansas City, or will the organizers and racers happily pay a little more for the use of the streets?
Runner's World is reporting that Kansas City, Missouri's City Council voted to raise the cost of a permit to host a race. Logically those increased fees will require higher entry fees or more sponsors, perhaps a combination.
It's not difficult to see the city's point of view: they say current permit fees do not cover the city's cost in providing things like street closures to accommodate the races. I'm not arguing that point.
No, this whole post is because I think it will be interesting to see whether things work for Kansas City the way they think it will. They seem to believe that increasing the fee will have no impact on the number of races that are hosted there; from that it allows them to project that they will raise up to $65,000 per year...enough to cover the city's costs.
What if the presumption proves to be wrong? What if race organizers decide the cost is too high? Then the revenue the city expects won't be there. (Then again, the city also won't have as many expenses because of fewer races to patrol)
So what do you think? Will the fee increase curtail road races in Kansas City, or will the organizers and racers happily pay a little more for the use of the streets?