When 50,000 people with credit cards arrive in your city, it’s kind of hard to avoid making some money. And the RNC has promised the convention will do just that, to the tune of $200 million in direct and indirect economic benefit.
Such estimates are notoriously hard to verify, and the benefits will be uneven. In Tampa, Florida, in 2012, downtown bars didn’t see the expected bonanza when locals didn’t show up because they feared crowds, and there weren’t enough outsiders to make up for it. In Cleveland in 2016, some restaurants had rooms full of uneaten chow that ended up being donated to food banks.
But it’s something else in every visitor’s possession – their smartphone – that could matter more to Milwaukee’s bottom line, long term. Most visitors will be new to town, and they’ll have experiences and form impressions, and share their photos and opinions – happy or meh – on social media. Many media members have an even bigger social footprint, and what they see and broadcast still matters a lot, too – the world will view our city on the TV screens and online pages of thousands of media outlets.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
Milwaukee officials are betting that the image of the city will shine, and that this major event will burnish our rep enough to lead to even bigger “gets” down the road.
The example of Cleveland, a comparably under-the-national-radar city that hosted the last in-person RNC, in 2016, seems instructive. Cleveland went into the convention on a hot streak, with its NBA Cavaliers winning the city’s first sports title in decades (sound familiar?) and a dramatic building boom remaking the Downtown landscape. Then all those people and cameras showed up for the RNC. “The spotlight you get from this could not be brighter,” says Chris Quinn, editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Economists interviewed conventiongoers when they arrived and when they left, and found a shift in adjectives to describe the city: “Rust Belt,” “dull,” “boring” and “dangerous” upon arrival became “friendly,” “nice,” “clean” and “safe” upon departure. Locals like Quinn believe that shift in perspective explains how Cleveland has further upped its game, attracting other major events since the RNC. Tourism officials in the city noted that requests for information about hosting conventions and other major gatherings doubled in the year after the RNC, and the momentum hasn’t really stopped. The city hosted the NFL Draft in 2021 and the NCAA Women’s Basketball Final Four in 2024.
Like CLE, MKE is riding a hot streak in terms of its national rep. Favorable mentions in big-league publications, including The New York Times and National Geographic, have happened with regularity. “Top Chef” broadcast Milwaukee to the world. The Baird Center got a dramatic upgrade, The Couture opened, The Hop expanded.
Time will tell how long the RNC will make it rain for Milwaukee. Says Alison Prange, chief of staff and senior advisor of the MKE 2024 Host Committee: “You should look down a 10-year road to see economic impact continue to build on top of the convention.”
