University of Miami: as seen on TV; During the first US presidential debate, Coral Gables' largest employer showed it can contribute more to the city's economy than students

South Florida CEO, Nov, 2004 by Jaclyn Alcantara

When the University of Miami successfully hosted this year's first presidential debate, it put to rest any ideas that its 7,000-seat Convocation Center was just another place to watch a basketball game.

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Indeed, the event put the university, and its host city Coral Gables, in the national spotlight, highlighting it as an integral part of the economic and political fabric of Miami-Dade County.

With a history as old as the city itself, the University of Miami has always been a major economic engine for Coral Gables. Its 4,005 Coral Gables-based employees (out of more than 9,000 total) make the university the No. 1 employer in the city--four times as large as No. 2 Baptist Health Doctors Hospital, which has 900 employees.

Nearly 9,000 university students are city residents during the school year, and an estimated 5,500 residents are alumni. Non-local students pump approximately $36 million a year into the Coral Gables economy. Visitors to the school spend an estimated $34 million a year locally. Its total economic impact is $536 million.

But it is the university's new Convocation Center, managed by Philadelphia-based Global Spectrum, which has some people crediting it with putting "The City Beautiful" on the map.

"There was no prouder moment to a lot of us [than] when the presidential debates started and they said, 'Welcome to the presidential debate here on the campus of the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida.' Not Miami, but Coral Gables, Florida," says Coral Gables Mayor Donald Slesnick.

University of Miami President Donna Shalala, now in her fourth year at the school, says more than 62 million people worldwide watched that debate, with approximately 3,000 reporters covering the event on location. "Even 'Saturday Night Live' reported from the University of Miami," she says.

The media crowded into Coral Gables hotels and restaurants, giving the local economy an unseasonable boost. But Shalala says the debates did something much more important than that.

"Neither the university nor the city of Coral Gables had ever gotten that level of visibility," she says. "We got on the front page of every newspaper in the country. You can invest in PR people, but you can't get that kind of publicity."

Patrick McGrew, the Convocation Center's general manager, says the local employees who coordinated with the Commission on Presidential Debates did such a good job that Marty Slutsky, the commission's executive producer, told him it was the most successful to date in terms of infrastructure.

"They told me they could transplant the team of people, and the operations here, to the other debate sites, and they knew they would have absolutely no problems," McGrew recounts. Not a bad compliment coming from Slutsky, who has helped arrange Olympic games and Super Bowls.

University officials contend that the Convocation Center has proven itself a viable alternative to the region's four other major venues--the Miami Arena, American Airlines Arena in downtown Miami, Office Depot Center in Sunrise, and Sound Advice Amphitheater in West Palm Beach. McGrew says he wants to attract the most diverse events possible to the center.

In the past, the Convocation Center, which opened in January 2003, had mainly hosted basketball games and concerts, such as ones with the popular rock bands Good Charlotte and Cold Play, as well as events for families with children, such as Bob the Builder and Barney shows.

McGrew has scheduled comedian Mike Epps this month, and is looking to bring in popular Latin American acts and high-profile country music acts, such as Kenny Rogers, who is scheduled to play there in March.

Though bringing in new visitors to Coral Gables could be good for retailers and restaurateurs, residents are a bit more apprehensive. "There's always a little tension between the University of Miami and some of our residents," says Slesnick.

Neighboring homeowner groups work together with university representatives, he says, on issues residents have with the campus. Moreover, the city enforces strict guidelines on when events can be scheduled. Traffic management programs, developed with the city, have helped alleviate congestion at events, such as during a June radio show when jammed parking lots were empty within 28 minutes following the event.

"We don't have some of the issues that a building of this size, snuggled into a high-profile municipality, would be expected to have," McGrew says, adding that he hopes the city will eventually review some of its restrictions. For example, the center has room for 10,000 seats, but is currently only licensed for approximately 7,900.

Still, McGrew says the city and the university work well together in making the center benefit both residents and the university. The city even waived its restriction of holding events during school hours when it allowed the Dalai Lama to speak to a daytime audience at the center.

"Coral Gables has got, for the first time, this multi-purpose sports venue that can play host to anything." McGrew says.--JA