2022 Economic Impact Study

In 2022, we entered our 45th year of operation at The Monument.  Over the course of that forty-five years, the complex, community, and surrounding region has experienced growth in almost every area from retail, schools, housing, population, amenities etc.

This economic impact study was commissioned by Visit Rapid City, The City of Rapid City and The Monument to estimate the impact that the complex provides to our local community and the surrounding region.  It is a tool we will use to evaluate what type of events bring the most economic impact, while still providing to the quality of life of our community, and meeting the bottom lines of operation.

Types of Economic Impact Explained

I. The direct impact measures the revenues generated as a direct result of the operations of the complex, activity or event. The revenues generated by, event attendees, including visitors and vendors, will be considered as a direct effect only if they are from outside of the local community. Local attendees would be assumed to spend money on other purchases within the community even if the event were not occurring. Hence, the revenue generated by local residents would not be considered an influx of income. On the other hand, revenues generated by out of town visitors represent new income that exists only on account of the event being held. These direct revenues, representing net wealth inflows, drive the indirect impact.  

II. The indirect impact represents additional input purchases made by local businesses as a result of the direct impact. It includes the money spent on additional inputs from local suppliers and the hiring of more labor. The local suppliers and businesses who receive this income will also re-spend a proportion of it on the purchase of inputs in the local economy. This process will continue until the amount re-spent diminishes.  

III. The induced impact is created when local business owners, suppliers, and employees use the additional income that they earned as a result of the direct and induced impacts. A portion of this income will be re-spent in the local economy and become a source of income for other local business owners, suppliers, and employees. Again, recipients of this income will respend a portion of it locally until the total amount re-spent diminishes. The indirect and induced impacts re-circulate throughout the local economy, creating a multiplicative effect. This multiplier assumes a value greater than one and represents the sum of the direct, indirect, and induced impacts. Thus, the total local impact is a multiple of the direct effect.

Last Economic Impact Study

The last time a study was done was in 2012, at that time the study showed an economic impact just over $60 million.

In the decade between, we have made improvements to a number of our venues with upgrades to electrical, HVAC, lighting & technology, and cooling systems along with the overall expansion of the complex with the addition of Summit Arena. 

Why Now?

With a full year of Summit Arena operations under our belt, both Visit Rapid City and The Monument felt it was time to see what the overall impacts of the complex were on the community, take a look at the events we currently have an evaluate where we were sitting.  We work closely with Visit Rapid City and the newly formed Sports Commission in trying to secure large conventions, meetings and sporting events.  This study will help us to determine which events will have the most impact and where we should focus those combined efforts.