By Robert Haugh
If you look up the phrase “resting on one’s laurels” you might see the full page color ad that the Santa Clara Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) bought in the Santa Clara Weekly last week.
They pat themselves on the back for bringing Wrestlemania 31 to town. That was a great event. I was there. It is truly the Super Bowl of pro wrestling, bringing the past, present and future of sports entertainment together.
But Wrestlemania 31 was held on March 29, 2015. The CVB team is bragging about something they did three years ago!
Oh by the way, we noticed an interesting coincidence. The full page color ad appears in the Weekly about 30 days after Publisher Miles Barber writes a glowing column about Con Vis Manager Annette Manhart: “Petite, feisty and charming all in the same package, describes this lady dynamo,” according to Barber. Hmmm.
The CVB is funded by the city, although it’s managed by the Santa Clara Chamber of Commerce, where Barber is active especially with their Political Action Committee. That’s an unusual relationship which is currently being evaluated by a consultant for the city.
The CVB is suppose to use city tax dollars to attract tourists to Santa Clara. Those tourists will stay in our hotel rooms and spend their money in our restaurants we hope.
So why buy a full page color ad in the Weekly using tax dollars that are targeted for tourists? It’s doubtful that tourists are some of the estimated 100 people (or less) who subscribe to the Weekly.
If the CVB thinks this a good use of advertising funds, it’s no wonder the city is looking at how the Chamber is managing (or not managing) the Convention Center and the CVB. They lost $2.3 million last year, including $1.5 million paid to the CVB.
It’s about time. This full page color ad makes it obvious.
[…] former Santa Clara Chamber of Commerce who ran the Convention Center and the former ConVis Bureau. Neither of those organizations did a good job. That’s why the Council had to get rid of […]
[…] options, two with performance-based management fees. We wonder if the new agreements allow the CVB to continue spending public funds on ads promoting their “success” in bringing in events like WrestleMania 31 and Super Bowl 50 in the Santa Clara Weekly. We […]
Santa Clara made money on it, really? According to whom? How much? Let’s see the proof … there has been a whole lot of crowing about Santa Clara making money, but has ANYONE actually SEEN PROOF?? Ms Bress has asked for years to see the proof … but I believe she is still asking … what about it? Exactly, how much did the City ACTUALLY MAKE? Not businesses, not “the region”, not lip service … let’s finally see the actually numbers and stop all the crap about making money because so far it is just talk … talk is cheap. Moen TALKS and people mumble and so far there’s a whole lot of mumbling going on for years and years!
I think WrestleMania 31 was greatest event we’ve had at Stadium. We should get it again, asking WWE how we could have made it better and brought more money into City (City businesses). Oh, and police should evaluate their spending of resources there/then. I think it may have also been the event that needed least amount of security people. Perhaps negotiate as a partner with SAP Arena (vs. WWE negotiating separate deals).
I had a conflict and couldn’t make it to Evolution Sports Expo at Convention Center last weekend. Hope it went well. I’d love to see the numbers on that. Attendance & monies to City/CVB. Get feedbacks to; from event organizers, CVB and attendees.
Hmmm. CVB is managed by Chamber of Commerce. Chamber receives funding from City. Chamber run by Miles Barber, et al. Barber publishes Santa Clara Weekly. Chamber uses City money to put ad in Santa Clara Weekly? Isn’t this called self-dealing?
Could you be any more petty?
So what if the event was three years ago, let them be proud of it, as you said it was a “great event”. The money on the ad is a nominally interesting question at best, but your lead is just very disrespectful to people that clearly worked hard to deliver a great event to Santa Clara, and did.
Oh my my. Seems like everything Miles Barber touches turns into crapola.
What a waste of money. The city council should demand a refund.