Unraveling Augusta National’s Best Kept Secret

By Justin Brosemer

In a lot of ways, 2021 has been extension of 2020 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, especially when considering hardships endured and lifestyles enforced. For the annual Masters tournament hosted by Augusta National, however, major changes were seen when comparing 2020’s event which was postponed until September with no public attendance, to the 2021’s regularly scheduled and limited public attendance Masters showing. The implications on the Augusta economy will certainly be better than 2020’s, but how much so is a question made harder by Augusta National’s keeping so much of the famed event behind closed doors.

The choice for the 2020 Masters tournament was an inevitable conclusion made by officials at Augusta National. Nonetheless, it brought even more obstacles to the forefront for the Augusta community who relied on the tournament to stimulate the economy for a large portion of the fiscal year. That numbering exceeds $100 million in conservative past projections.

Thankfully, the Masters golf tournament, a competition comprised of the highest ranked golfers internationally competing for the prestigious Green Jacket with a victory on the storied course, returned to some level of normalcy in 2021. While face coverings, social distancing, contactless payment, and sanitization were all still required, this year’s tournament was a far cry from the mid-September showing.

Maybe the most important distinction from this year and last year’s tournament was the allowance of patrons in 2021. While Augusta National does not release solid numbers regarding attendance during the Masters, a general idea can be conjured thanks to trends seen from the PGA so far in 2021, as well as financial reports released by local businesses and hotels monthly.

For reference, two PGA sponsored golf tournaments, the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players Championship capped their attendance at 25% and 20% respectively during early March 2021. It has been heavily rumored by media outlets and professional golfers that the attendance numbers on an unaffected Masters day will be around 40,000. Using these attendance caps placed as a guideline for the 2021 Masters, it can be inferred there will be a total 8,000-10,000 people will be at this year’s Masters tournament.

Vice President Jennifer Bowen of the Destination Development & Community Engagement at the Augusta Convention and Visitors Bureau spoke about the aforementioned financial reports. “The financial reports showed an enormous increase of commerce within the local businesses and hotels in Augusta,” said Bowen. “When compared to April of 2020, the Augusta community saw a 781% increase in revenue for the same month in 2021.”

Just by that single statistic, the impact of the Masters for Augusta’s economy can be realized. However, Bowen provided even further statistics to reenforce that very impact. These statistics included a population report of hotels from the Augusta area, in which there was a 133% increase in hotel attendance within the month of April since last year, as well as a reported 76% total capacity.

For context, in 2019—the last Masters before the COVID-19 pandemic—hotels were at a capacity of 87%, and in 2020 hotels were at a reported 37.7% capacity. While Augusta National was not at pre-COVID-19 numbers for the 2021 golf tournament, it is a strong indication that they will return to form in the coming years.

Upon learning these statistics, one may be able to understand the magnitude of the impact, but the bigger obstacle lies in how this giant influx of revenue directly stimulated the Augusta economy.

On a basic level, a huge sporting event such as the Masters can result in economic stimulation from various factors, including the generation of visitors’ spending, public spending, employment opportunities, tax revenue, among other things.

“Every year in Augusta, people rely on the revenue increase and job opportunities from the month of April,” Augusta University economics professor Simon Medcalfe states, “Each year the number of people employed in the Augusta Metropolitan Statistical area increases by about 3000 workers compared to the average of March and May. This has increased slightly from a bump of 2,000 employed citizens ten years ago.”

Even with the plethora of information given to us, gauging the impact of the 2021 Masters still proves to be a near-impossible task. An example of why this is can be seen in the House Rental business. The renting out of households holds true to be an extremely lucrative activity for Augusta locals in the month of April, usually resulting in at least a $1,000 per night fare on house rental platforms such as AirBnb.

While the general public is unable to view plain statistics on the housing market during this time, it is said by Masters Housing Bureau’s President and Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce CEO Sue Parr that the rental business for houses is “not as brisk as past years, but homes remain in demand and inquiries continued to come every day leading up to the tournament.”

With the information given to the public, the most accurate assessment of the economic impact of the 2021 Masters tournament is that it will have a greater impact than the 2020 Masters, the tournament held without patrons, and a lesser impact than the 2019 Masters, the last one held at full capacity. That answer may seem like a given, but it is really a testament to how secretive Augusta National is with their financial information.

However, the people of Augusta can infer that the economic impact will be significantly more than the 2020 Masters, while only slightly less than the 2019 Masters, according to the reported numbers by hotels and local businesses.

The Augusta community can rest assured that if public health permits, the economic impact can return to the height seen in its storied history in the coming years.