Economic Impact

Only three years ago, Baltimore and Maryland were all but out of the TV and film production business. After the glory years of “Homicide,” “The Corner,” “The Wire” and tens of millions of HBO dollars spent here on Maryland crews and materials, state funding for incentives had ended, and Hollywood had left Baltimore in its rear view mirror for what looked like good. But last Monday, Media Rights Capital and Netflix were back in town with stars like Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright and all those big, white Haddad's trucks to start filming season two of “House of Cards,” a series that last year had an economic impact of $140 million on the area, according to the Maryland Film Office.

Only three years ago, Baltimore and Maryland were all but out of the TV and film production business. After the glory years of “Homicide,” “The Corner,” “The Wire” and tens of millions of HBO dollars spent here on Maryland crews and materials, state funding for incentives had ended, and Hollywood had left Baltimore in its rear view mirror for what looked like good. But last Monday, Media Rights Capital and Netflix were back in town with stars like Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright and all those big, white Haddad's trucks to start filming season two of “House of Cards,” a series that last year had an economic impact of $140 million on the area, according to the Maryland Film Office.

WrestleMania 28, which took place April 1 in Miami, broke the record for economic impact that WrestleMania has on the host city, WWE announced Monday. The annual pay-per-view event, which drew 78,363 to Sun Life Stadium, generated 102.7 million dollars in economic impact, shattering the previous record set by WrestleMania 27 in Atlanta by $40 million. According to WWE, 71 percent of fans that attended WrestleMania 28 were from outside the Miami area and stayed in the city an average of four nights.

The Baltimore Development Corp., the city's economic development agency, is looking for an outside consultant to provide an analysis of the city's "economic development landscape," according to a request for applications issued Tuesday. The consultant is being asked to assess the city's "existing economic conditions, obstacles, opportunities for expansion, and strengths," as well as identify "priorities and options to move the City's economy forward" and figure out a way "to track the success of new initiatives in terms of job growth, investment, and economic impact," according to the request for proposals.

Wondering how many tickets were sold to this year's Grand Prix of Baltimore?  Curious as to how the economic benefits of this city-subsidized event compare to last year's inaugural race? Well, you're going to have to just keep wondering.  Race On, the organizers of this year's race, announced yesterday it will not release the number of tickets sold to the three day festival.  Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's administration, which provided about $800,000 in city services to support the race and spent $7 million last year preparing downtown streets to serve as a race course, is not commissioning a study of the economic impact of this year's race.  Last year's "study confirmed what we know is an undisputed fact and that is the event has a significant positive economic impact," her spokesman Ryan O'Doherty said.

A trio of annual Baltimore events - Artscape, the book festival and the New Year's celebration at the Inner Harbor - generated an estimated $36 million in economic benefits during the past year, according to the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts. The estimate, to be released Monday, is part of a more sophisticated effort to attract additional corporate sponsors and justify continued public subsidies for the events. "The impact [of the three events], regionally, is huge," said Bill Gilmore, executive director of BOPA, a private, nonprofit organization that works exclusively for the city.

General Motors' manufacturing plant in White Marsh lost about a day and a half to Cyclone Sandy. But it sustained no damage, missed no shipping deadlines and expected to quickly make up for lost time. Though that's just about the best-case scenario, it's not rare in the region. Despite the disruption of widespread shutdowns Monday and Tuesday, the Baltimore area missed the worst of Sandy's wallop. The overall economic impact should be modest as a result, economists say, even if for some businesses and residents it was anything but. "Economically, it doesn't mean much for the Baltimore area," said Richard Clinch, director of economic research for the University of Baltimore's Jacob France Institute.

Baltimore residents might never know how much money the city's second Grand Prix race generated or how it affected local hotels, restaurants and other businesses. A spokesman for Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said Tuesday that the city would not commission an economic impact study of this year's Labor Day weekend event, as it did last year for the inaugural racing festival. City and racing officials also said they might not publicly reveal the number of spectators; last year 160,000 people attended over the three days.

Arts and culture activity in the city had a $388.2 million total economic impact in 2010, according to a study released Friday by the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts. A previous version of the study, conducted every five years, found a $270 million impact in 2005. The study, Arts & Economic Prosperity IV, was conducted by the nonprofit Americans for the Arts. For 2010, it identifies about $266 million in total direct expenditures by nonprofit arts and culture organizations, and about $122 million in total direct expenditures by their audiences.

Gov. Martin O'Malley Monday announced something that had been widely known in Baltimore at least for the last two weeks: That the Netflix series "House of Cards" was back in town to film its second season. The White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington Saturday night opened with a spoof featuring Kevin Spacey that was filmed on the "House of Cards" set. And crew members have been working for the last two weeks inside the Baltimore Sun building on Calvert Street rebuilding the "House of Cards" newsroom set. But principal photography on the the second season officially started today, according to the Maryland Film Office.

Gov. Martin O'Malley Monday announced something that had been widely known in Baltimore at least for the last two weeks: That the Netflix series "House of Cards" was back in town to film its second season. The White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington Saturday night opened with a spoof featuring Kevin Spacey that was filmed on the "House of Cards" set. And crew members have been working for the last two weeks inside the Baltimore Sun building on Calvert Street rebuilding the "House of Cards" newsroom set. But principal photography on the the second season officially started today, according to the Maryland Film Office.

This just in: Maryland civil legal service programs not only benefit the poor but also save the state millions per year. Legal assistance to low-income Marylanders is a significant economic boost to the state and benefits more than just those receiving aid, according to a report just released by the Maryland Judiciary's Access to Justice Commission. Legal services mean a lot more than just helping people without means get access to the courts. For example, these services help low-income residents receive the government benefits to which they are entitled; prevent homelessness by avoiding eviction; and help protect against domestic violence.

The Ravens and Redskins will host playoff games Sunday, about 30 miles and 31/2 hours apart. Hosting two of the NFL's four playoff games in Maryland offers something of an economic double shot for the state. The games bring an increase in local taxes, a significant boost to the host teams' bottom lines and could have a combined economic impact of about $20 million to more than $40 million. But economists say most of the money being spent in Baltimore and Landover this weekend would have been spent in the area anyway.

Hours before a midnight deadline Monday, the White House reached a tentative deal with Congress to stop an enormous tax hike for all but the wealthiest households and to postpone for two months tough decisions on how to cut federal spending. After a rare holiday session that lasted through the New Year's Eve celebration and two hours into New Year's Day, the Senate voted, 89 to 8, to approve the proposal. Republican leaders in the House had balked at holding a vote in the dark of night, but are expected to bring the bill up later Tuesday.

Attendance at the National Aquarium this year is expected to tick up a little more than 1 percent to 1.33 million, but remains significantly below levels experienced several years ago before the recession. Still, an economic impact report to be released Wednesday found that many of the visitors to the Inner Harbor attraction come from out of state, spend a good deal of money in the region and cite the aquarium as the reason they came. The study, conducted by Sage Policy Group, estimates that the aquarium is responsible for an economic impact of nearly $320 million in the Baltimore and Washington region, providing an underpinning for more than 3,300 jobs.

The second Grand Prix of Baltimore sold 30,000 fewer tickets and generated $5 million less for the local economy than the first race. But a economic impact report completed last week and released publicly Thursday has nevertheless emboldened J.P. Grant, a partner in Race On LLC. “We pulled that off in 100 days, so it really is the floor of what we can do,” Grant said. “We had a 60-page playbook and could only get through the first three pages. There's much more we'll do this year.” Grant has already started sharing the report with local business leaders, generating what he said was a positive response.

City officials are calling the Baltimore Grand Prix an economic success, but a new study conducted for the city's tourism arm suggests that it funneled far less money to local businesses than race organizers predicted. The report for Visit Baltimore, released Friday, estimates that spectators from outside the Baltimore region, non-local vendors and race promoters spent almost $28 million in and near the city during the Labor Day weekend event. Baltimore Racing Development, the financially beleaguered race organizer, issued its own report last year that projected about $70 million in race-fueled spending.

Baltimore's new baseball stadium might advance downtown development and polish the state's international image. But the lasting economic impact on the region is tougher to estimate and will depend on the ability of Oriole Park at Camden Yards to keep fans coming back year after year.State officials predict the stadium will act as a magnet, luring fans from a wide area to spend money at attractions such as the Inner Harbor and National Aquarium. It also will add to the region's quality of life, helping to persuade businesses to move plants and offices here, the officials predict.

General Motors' manufacturing plant in White Marsh lost about a day and a half to Cyclone Sandy. But it sustained no damage, missed no shipping deadlines and expected to quickly make up for lost time. Though that's just about the best-case scenario, it's not rare in the region. Despite the disruption of widespread shutdowns Monday and Tuesday, the Baltimore area missed the worst of Sandy's wallop. The overall economic impact should be modest as a result, economists say, even if for some businesses and residents it was anything but. "Economically, it doesn't mean much for the Baltimore area," said Richard Clinch, director of economic research for the University of Baltimore's Jacob France Institute.

Baltimore's weeklong Star-Spangled Sailabration in June drew more than 1.5 million people — some 435,000 from out of state — and had an estimated $166 million in economic impact on the metro area, according to a study released Thursday by the event organizers. The estimate includes about $98 million in spending by visitors, vendors and sponsors from outside the region, with the rest coming from the indirect effect of that "fresh" money cycling through the local economy. "This was spectacular in size," said Candace Campbell, senior project director at Forward Analytics, which prepared the report for the nonprofit Star-Spangled 200 Inc. "One of our survey questions was, 'Is Sailabration the main reason you're in the area?