Snow and ski - Why no world cup ski events in the tahoe area

On 1/3/10 11:00 AM, Humsquirto wrote:
Can someone who is in the know please explain why all of the big ski
events (world cup, I assume) that are held in the US are never in the
tahoe area? Seems like they are primarily held in the east. Perhaps
the proximity to Europe?

Costs a lot of money to host a WC event. If you look at the list
Treseler provided else-thread all are destination resorts looking for
attractions to cause East Coasters to book their ski week at their
resort rather than another. Their business model says a WC event is cost
effective to attracting the fly-in week-stays.

Tahoe (Hell, ALL California mountains) depend on driveup, mostly,
weekenders who come for the actual skiing with buddies or family. They
have no interest in activities - place to sleep, friends, up at dawn to
hit the slopes, repeat next weekend. FWIW, Heavenly, Squaw, and Mammoth
would claim they are destination resorts but that's bull****. Their
customers are also largely drawn from the 50 million Californians within
weekend driving distance.

There's no economic model that makes hosting a WC event a net gain for
Tahoe.

This is not to say destination folks shouldn't come to Tahoe; they
absolutely should not miss Tahoe. Just that if they come, they should
come to ski. There's more top level skiing within a few miles of the
Lake than any similar size region on the continent and maybe the planet
(since the Tahoe resorts are not interlinked it's hard to compare
statics with Euro ski stations.)

Aside: Years ago Alpine Meadows used to host an early season Pro circuit
slalom event every fall. Wonderful skiers, amazing races, television
coverage, big time sponsors, and a chance to mingle with, talk with, and
learn from some of the best skiers on the planet; and maybe 10-20 people
could be bothered to stop and watch a race.