Garth Brooks concerts promise to boost Saskatoon economy

Brent Penner hasonly had a short amount of time to do some number crunching following this week's news that Garth Brooks will play not onebut sixshows in Saskatoon this summer.

Penner, who istheexecutive director for the Saskatoon DowntownBusiness Improvement District, knows the concerts will meana guaranteed cash infusion for the city. He believes the shows could pump anywhere from $16-20 million into the local economy.

"It's very significant.I might be low, but I'm not sure where I sit on the numbers.But it's big," he said.

Penner points to hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions, and the retail sector as the major beneficiaries of the concerts especially in Saskatoon's downtown core.

"The hotels will be very happy. There's eight hotels in our business district, and I'm sure they'll all be at capacity or maybe even sold out by now."

Around 86,000 tickets have been sold for the six performances at SaskTel Centre, and judging by the buzz around Saskatoon, many of those concert-goers could be from out of town.

• 6 Garth Brooks concerts scheduled in 4 days in Saskatoon

"I'd love to know what the breakdown of those numbers are,"Penner said. "I know lots of people that tried to get tickets that live here couldn't ...I have to assume that we'll have thousands of people in from outside the city, and it's great when people come to our city and bring their dollars with them and leave them here. That's tremendous."

Penner went to Brooks' last performance in Saskatoon more than 20 years ago as a young man, and he's not surprised that the "timeless entertainer"has maintained his popularity to this day.

"To know that Saskatoon was one of the few cities he selected to come to, I think that speaks well for our city and how he must feel about coming to Saskatoon."