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Filename BCEC-Expansion_PB.pdf
Filesize 2 MB
Version 1 Previous versions
Date added June 4, 2015
Downloaded 10637 times
Category Better Government, Convention Center

This new policy brief published, Analyzing the Convention Center Authority’s Inflated Claims, examines recent claims made by the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority about the proposed expansion of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

The analysis reveals that only eight events booked at the BCEC over the next 13 years – not 18 as the MCCA has claimed – have escape clauses that allow them to go elsewhere if expansion doesn’t go forward.  It also finds that despite claims that the facility would not be able to host the BIO conference again without expansion, the show is booked five times between 2021 and 2029 without expansion-related escape clauses.  Boston will likely have no problem hosting BIO going forward since the event is now one-third smaller than when it was held at the BCEC in 2007 and it is not forecast to grow.

Finally, the report demonstrates that the convention center authority is overstating both its room night stays and its economic impact.

Unfortunately, the convention center authority’s inflated claims about bookings and their economic impact are just the latest in a series of misrepresentations that have become standard practice in its push for expansion.