Sea Otter Classic worth $30 million to Monterey
Sea Otter Classic founder Frank Yohannan has revealed in an interview with lennd.com that the event is of huge economic value to the region.
“Our economic value is over $30 million for the week, determined by an independent audit company,” said Yohannan.
Having grown the exhibit from just 350 visitors in 1991 to around 10,000 riders and 70,000 attendees in recent years, Yohannan says that growth has come from realising the potential of the expo area.
“It took a while to recognize how important that would be. It just adds to the overall experience. We were a little late to recognize how important the peripheral items are to the experience. From a business standpoint, it (growth) will continue to be from the expo.” he told Lennd.
It is “managed growth” that has sustained the Sea Otter, though, says Yohannan.
“We get a lot of pressure to add more things. We’re very careful about the new things we add, from new events, to parking, to the expo. We could have grown a lot faster.”
To read the full interview, including why Yohannan singles out SRAM for special praise, click here.