Modesto short in raising money for Amgen Tour of California visit

Modesto has come up short in covering its costs of providing hotel rooms and meals for the Amgen Tour of California, the annual road race featuring some of the world’s top cyclists.

The City Council approved in early February spending as much as $75,000 from the general fund to pay for the accommodations and other expenses. But the cyclists won’t be racing in Modesto. Cycling fans will have to go to Lodi to see that.

City officials hoped to recoup what the city spends by raising money in the community. Modesto has raised or has pledges totaling $6,000 from locals. AEG – the global sports and entertainment conglomerate that owns and operates the Tour – pledged $22,000 after the city expressed to AEG its difficulties in raising money. (The Tour is named after its title sponsor, the biotech firm Amgen.)

The council voted 4-3 to approve spending the $75,000, with then-Mayor Garrad Marsh and council members Tony Madrigal, Jenny Kenoyer and Doug Ridenour voting “yes.”

Modesto faced a backlash over the decision, though the Tour had strong local support when Modesto was a stage city from 2008 to 2011, with thousands of people thronging downtown streets to see the cycling world’s elite zip past them.

Modestans won’t have that chance next week. AEG contacted Modesto in late December because it needed a place for the roughly 350 cyclists and their team members to spend the night in the Valley after they finish the Tour’s Stage 4 on Wednesday in Monterey County and before the start of Thursday’s Stage 5 in Lodi. The riders and their entourages will be driven to Modesto and then to Lodi.

It’s not clear why AEG asked Modesto to provide the meals and lodging. The communities where a stage ends typically are responsible for those costs. AEG officials have not returned several phone calls and emails from The Bee.

Community and Economic Development Director Cindy Birdsill said this is an opportunity for Modesto to strengthen its relationship with AEG. She said Modesto will apply to be a stage city in next year’s Tour. It last applied several years ago.

“We do think it’s an amazing event,” she said, “and we hope they pick us next time.”

Modesto solicited about 200 businesses and others for sponsorships or donations. The city landed six contributors, and all of them have close ties with the city.

Modesto received donations of $500 each from a retired Parks, Recreation and Neighborhoods Department employee; Storer Transportation, which operates the city’s Dial-A-Ride service; and the Modesto Confidential and Management Association, one of the city’s six labor groups.

The city received a $2,500 pledge from KemperSports, which manages two of the city’s three golf courses, and $1,000 each from the Modesto Police Officers Association and Valley Crest, which maintains the three golf courses.

Laurie Smith, the city’s business manager and president of the MCMA, said her labor group has a long history of contributing to city events that benefit the community and thanked the other contributors for supporting the city.

The city also hopes to raise additional money when nine autographed jerseys it received from the Tour are auctioned at a May 22 event.

The city has revised its original cost estimate of $75,000 to $67,509, which means putting up the riders and their teams will cost the city about $39,509 before whatever it earns from the auction.

The $67,509 includes $39,009 for 250 hotel rooms and $26,000 for dinner and breakfast for the riders and their teams.

The city’s remaining costs are $500 for a 30-second commercial promoting Modesto that will be broadcast twice during the Tour on the NBC Sports Network and $2,000 for its Modesto Cycling Expo. The expo is scheduled for 3 to 7 p.m. Wednesday downtown and will feature food trucks and a raffle, and festivalgoers can watch Tour crews work on racers’ bikes.

Besides offering free, family-friendly fun, Birdsill said the event will reacquaint the community with the Tour and hopefully build support for having it return.

This story was originally published May 13, 2016 at 1:28 PM with the headline "Modesto short in raising money for Amgen Tour of California visit."