From today's Rome News-Tribune:

"Nina Lovel has a vision for a new tennis center. As a member of the Rome Tennis Advisory Council, she wants a facility that’s bigger, better and has more courts in one place.

One reason is money. The Georgia State League Championships, currently occupying 70 courts in seven locations across the county, is expected to bring in around $2 million during the four days it’s here."

Reminds me of a certain Dallas Cowboys stadium fleecing.

More seriously, if tennis tournaments are such gushers of money then why doesn't some entreprenuer spring for the $750k that the article reports would be necessary to build a new tennis center? Even if the new tennis center could capture only 10% of that magical $10m that tennis tournaments bring to Rome, it would pay for itself in only 1 year. Not many investments pay for themselves that quickly! The fact that no one in Rome--or anywhere else apparently--builds a private facility suggests that the $10m is a wee bit inflated.

An anecdotal reason to suspect it's inflated: While eating Friday night at a restaurant that should be one of the beneficiaries of tourist spending, my better two-thirds, Pee Wee, and I observed less than a dozen people in tennis attire. While some may have changed clothes there couldn't have been too many tennis players eating there because the restaurant was only half full.