Impact of athletics: $18.5 million

University of Nevada, Reno athletic programs generated an economic impact of $18.5 million during 2009-2010, finds a newly commissioned analysis.

To put that number into perspective, the five companies that moved to the Reno area in the past eight months with the assistance of the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada three manufacturers, a logistics company and a financial firm generated first-year economic impact of $18.9 million.

Even the researcher who crunched the numbers says he was surprised at the amount of money that the university's athletics programs generate for the region's tourism sector.

Visitors who come to town for athletic events generated about $4.5 million in economic impact during the year that was studied nearly a quarter of the total impact, says Brian Bonnenfant of the Center for Regional Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno.

The center was contracted by the school's athletic department to produce the economic analysis, which is scheduled for release this week.

Spectators who come to town for football and basketball games along with other Nevada athletics events spent an estimated $2.46 million in 2009-2010, Bonnenfant estimated.

By the time those dollars circulated around town, the total impact was about $3.5 million.

Visiting teams, meanwhile, spend an estimated $591,494, which translates into an impact of more than $914,000 once the dollars circulate through the local economy.

"That's really the eye-opening number," said Bonnenfant.

The study included only visitors who required an overnight stay.

Other segments of the economic impact of the school's athletics department include:

* The $6.9 million payroll for the 89 fulltime workers in the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics during 2009-2010. By the time those dollars circulate, they help generate another 171 jobs in the local economy.

* The department's operations budget of $8.87 million, which includes purchases both from local and out-of-state suppliers. Once the out-of-state purchases are factored out, and the effects of purchases circulating through the local economy are added in, that generated a $7.4 million economic impact.

* Slightly more than $1 million in capital improvements undertaken to the department's facilities in 2009-2010. Once again washing out out-of-state purchases and folding in the multiplier effect of dollars circulating, that created a $774,068 impact.

The study didn't account for some other contributions of the athletics program.

Wolf Pack student-athletes, coaches and staff, for instance, logged more than 2,500 hours of community service in 2009-10. University officials said that would be valued at almost $50,000 according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nor did the economic analysis determine the value of publicity for the university and the region that's generated by athletics program.

Then, too, Bonnenfant noted that the study's scope didn't include intangibles such as the long-term economic impact of university-educated athletes who choose to put their newly acquired skills to work in northern Nevada.

The Center for Regional Studies uses an analysis tool originally developed by Harvard University in 1936 as well as software tools developed by Minnesota IMPLAN Group Inc.