Positive economic impact outweighs loss of Saskatoon Juno Awards special event grant funding

It was a tough blow to the City of Saskatoon- cancelling the 2020 Juno Awards at the last minute. It was years of preparation and hard work for a national awards show that would never take place.

But, it was a necessary move that Tourism Saskatoon Interim CEO Steph Clovechok says prevented COVID-19 from “spreading like wildfire” throughout the city in the early days of the pandemic.

“(It’s) something that we’re being celebrated for nationwide. It was a very hard decision and I think that everybody who was involved in that decision made the right one.”

The city provided about $350,000 in special event grant funding. According to a letter written to the City of Saskatoon, former Tourism Saskatoon CEO Todd Brandt said it was unfortunate that most of that money couldn’t be recovered.

“There are no avenues to recover the city investment from CARAS, or through any form of insurance. ”

The city had been hoping to realize about $9 million in direct economic impact if the event had not been cancelled.

However, Clovechok said there were, and still are, significant positive economic benefits.

“There was a direct $1.5 million impact that is seen as a direct impact of the Juno team coming here. A lot of the staging was established. So, what we’re able to see is that there was visitation to the city, but what’s not seen were the impacts leading up to (the show.) So, local employment, value-added income and revenue to local businesses and of course government tax revenues in our local and provincial economy.”

Further to that, she said there was a local sense of pride that was important to the quality of life and well being of Saskatonians. Saskatoon was also recognized, she said, as a destination of great value to host and put on an event the size of the Junos.

“When we saw airport arrivals surge during that week, when we saw retail sales and restaurant and hospitality sales surge during the weeks leading up to the event, those impacts were remarkable for our community,” she explained.

She added that over time, the city would recover the investment made in the Junos event through the induced and indirect visitor economy from things like local and visitor taxes over time.

“We’ve made an investment in our people, and we’ve made an investment in the visitor economy and the sustenance of many people’s well being and jobs.”

Now, Clovechok says Tourism Saskatoon is concentrating on making sure Saskatoon is seen on a national and global scale as a destination of value for tourists –  and for large scale events like the Juno Awards.