The Convention Center Authority’s Inflated Claims

In the wake of our recent brief, Analyzing the Convention Center Authority’s Inflated Claims, comes word that the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority (MCCA) contributed $23.5 million to a trust fund created by the Patrick administration to fund trade missions before then-Gov. Patrick approved the proposed $1 billion expansion of the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center (BCEC) last year.  The brief, authored by Charles Chieppo, exposes some of the MCCA’s misrepresentations about the economic impact of the proposed expansion.

Our report 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.

• 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.

• The convention center authority is dramatically overstating its economic impact.

 

Related research and posts:

• Analyzing the Convention Center Authority’s Inflated Claims
• The Boston Convention Center’s shrinking market
• Should We Build It? Two Views on the Merits of Boston’s Proposed Convention Center
• Does Boston Convention & Exhibition Center Expansion Really Pay for Itself?
• Flawed Forecasts: A Critical Look at Convention Center Feasibility Studies
• If We Build It Will They Come? And Other Questions About the Proposed Boston Convention Center
• Challenging Convention(al) Wisdom: Hard Facts About the Proposed Boston Convention Center

• Convention Center Expansion Pricetag: $5 Billion in Foregone Revenue

• WGBH News Commentary: Does Expanding The Convention Center Make Economic Sense?

• Getting our priorities straight on the BCEC and the MBTA

• 6 Reasons Gov. Patrick Should Veto the Convention Center Expansion Bill

• Boston Herald: New convention center math

• The Convention Center Expansion was a House of Cards

• Our View: Keep the Hotel Subsidy Out of the BCEC Expansion Bill

• The Boston Convention Center’s shrinking market