World Equestrian Games could bring $400M boost to WNC: 9 things to know

MILL SPRING – The biggest horse event in the world is about to happen, and it's going to be right in our backyard.

The FEI World Equestrian Games — which organizers say may become the largest sporting event in North Carolina history — are slated to run Sept. 12-23 at the Tryon International Equestrian Center in Polk County. The event is expected to draw participants and spectators from around the world, and it could have an economic impact approaching a half billion dollars.

Equestrian Center founder Mark Bellissimo hopes locals join the international crowd for the games, which draw Olympic-caliber talent and are held every four years.

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"We want people to realize that this is not only an event for equestrians; this is an event for people who love horses in any capacity," said Bellissimo, who with his business partners has invested more than $200 million in the TIEC.

Tourism officials in a multicounty region are certainly loving the event, which is expected to draw about 500,000 spectators over its two-week run.

"The World Equestrian Games are bringing an international audience to our doorstep, and it’s an opportunity for Western North Carolina to shine on a world stage," said Marla Tambellini, deputy director and vice president of marketing with Explore Asheville, the tourism entity for Buncombe County. The event, she said, "will have positive economic ripples throughout the region, into Upstate South Carolina and as far away as Charlotte."

That is not an exaggeration.

"We are already seeing interest in Asheville as a result of the event," Tambellini said, adding that Explore Asheville has been working directly with WEG participant organizations to book lodging in Buncombe. "Several hotels in Buncombe County also have contracts with TIEC’s designated housing company to provide rooms."

The economic bump will help businesses beyond lodging, including restaurants and attractions. It also comes "during a period that traditionally sees a slight dip in visitation," so that should help economically, too.

The equestrian center already is an impressive facility, but it's adding a covered outdoor arena and hotels for the games. The work site is abuzz with construction equipment and workers.

"We are building a world village that will consist of multiple three-star hotels that we will build in-house at our U.S. Precision Construction facility in Rutherfordton," Bellissimo said.

U.S. Precision Construction builds fully fabricated residential living units and commercial structures that can be used for retail buildings, hotels, and single-family and multi-family housing units. Bellissimo is confident they'll be ready — and he knows they'd better be.

"We have sold tickets to all 50 states and 31 foreign countries, so we expect a very global audience," Bellissimo said. "Of those numbers, we anticipate 70 percent of the audience to be from the United States and 30 percent international."

While the games are a few months off, here are nine things you should know about them:

1. The World Equestrian Games are a really huge deal. The upcoming games have "the potential to be the largest sporting event in North Carolina history, with over $400 million dollars of projected economic impact and 500,000 spectators over the 13-day event in September 2018," according to WEG press materials. The Fédération Equestre Internationale, the worldwide governing body of equestrian sport, administers the games, which over 13 days will include the eight core equestrian disciplines of jumping, dressage and para-equestrian dressage, eventing, driving, endurance, vaulting and reining (more on those later).

2. The games are truly international. Sweden hosted the games in Stockholm in 1990, followed by The Hague in the Netherlands in 1994; Rome in 1998; Jerez, Spain, in 2002 and Aachen, Germany in 2006. In 2010, American horse mecca Lexington, Kentucky, hosted the first games held outside Europe, drawing participants from 57 countries, including 800 human athletes and their horses. The games returned to Europe in 2014, taking place in Normandy, France. Those games lured 984 athletes, 1,234 horses, people from 74 nations, 1,900 media workers from 52 countries and 575,000 spectators.

3. It's kind of weird how this ended up in WNC. The FEI World Equestrian Games are a gigantic international deal, held every four years in the middle of the Olympic cycle. You don't just call up the FEI a week or two before the bidding starts and offer to host them. In this case, some serious serendipity — at least for WNC — was involved. The 2018 games were already spoken for, having been previously been awarded to Bromont Olympic Equestrian Park in Quebec, Canada. But complications arose, and the contract was mutually terminated in July 2016 because of concerns over funding, the FEI said. That's when the TIEC, ahem, spurred their bid over the fence.

When the TIEC got the bid in 2016, FEI President Ingmar de Vos said: "The Tryon team submitted a really impressive bid, and we have every confidence in the organizing committee. It's a truly spectacular venue, and almost all the necessary infrastructure for our eight disciplines is already in place."

4. To put it mildly, this is going to take a lot of lodging. First of all, no, the 500,000 people expected to attend can't all fit in Polk, a county of just over 20,000 residents.

"If you include our inns, motels and B&Bs in one category, we have 222 rooms available through those categories," said Melinda Massey, director of Polk County Travel & Tourism. "When Tryon (International Equestrian Center) gets their first hotel or two open, that will change. When I last checked, we also had 164 active vacation rentals, as of last fall, and most of those are two, three and four bedrooms, so that's estimated to about 345 bedrooms. That give us about 550 rooms could be rented in the county overall."

It's no surprise that the TIEC had to look in a fairly sizable geographic footprint to ensure adequate lodging.

"In order to submit a bid to host the WEG, we had to demonstrate that we had enough lodging in the region," said Mark Bellissimo, founder of the Tryon International Equestrian Center. "We contacted the tourism departments in a nine-county radius and determined that we had over 60,000 bed nights. Charlotte alone has 27,000 bed nights, and Asheville has a huge supply as well, so we are confident that we can accommodate everyone."

Buncombe County has about 7,800 hotel rooms, and an additional 750 are slated to opening later this year.

5. Qualifying for this event is not easy. "Qualifications for WEG are individual to each team or federation, but athletes must complete a certain number of events that are designated as observation or qualifying competitions to become eligible," Bellissimo said. "Horse and rider combinations are selected as a paired team, so a rider must also qualify with the mount that they would like to ride during the WEG."

It's far too early to know who will be participating.

"The rider selections won’t happen until a few weeks before the WEG, so while there are prime suspects on the list, we don’t want to speculate at this stage," Bellissimo said.

6. You're probably more familiar with the horse competitions than you think. For the most part, think Olympics, not the rodeo. You're probably familiar with horses jumping fences and being put through meticulous movements, while judges tally scores. That's what the WEG will be, and these are Olympic-caliber horses and athletes.

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The events do beg definitions, though, although "jumping" and "endurance" are pretty self-explanatory. For the non-equestrians among us, here are the meanings of the rest:

Dressage involves the horse and rider performing a series of predetermined, very specific movements, all from memory. WEG says this Olympic discipline is "often compared to ballet, with a scoring system similar to ice skating."

Para-equestrian dressage follows the same basic rules as conventional dressage, "but with riders divided into different competition grades based on functional abilities," the WEG site states.

Eventing includes dressage, endurance (or cross-country), and show jumping.

Driving is "a high-octane sport involving a carriage pulled by four horses, also known as four-in-hand, and encompasses three phases of competitions spread over three days: dressage, marathon and cones," according to WEG.

Vaulting is probably not what you're thinking. It's "gymnastics on horseback, and has a history as an equestrian act at circuses, but its origins stretch back at least 2,000 years," WEG says.

Reining: Now think rodeo. "This originates from the working movements of horses and riders when herding cattle and is a judged event designed to show the athletic ability of ranch-type horses in an arena setting," WEG states.

7. If you haven't been to Tryon International Equestrian Center, it'll boggle your mind. Developed by Bellissimo and partners on a 1,600-acre site in Mill Spring, Polk County, the venue has 1,200 permanent stables, numerous retail boutiques and multiple arenas, including an international arena that could hold up to 12,000 spectators. That would be the one with the giant, four-sided Rolex watch clock tower. Construction is booming on the site and will include hotels and a golf course.

8. You might spot some big names and celebrities at the games. Already rumors are swirling that Great Britain's Prince Harry and fiancee, Meghan Markle, might attend. And it's well known that rock 'n' roll megastar Bruce Springsteen's daughter competes at this high level. Buckingham Palace wouldn't cough up any details to the Citizen Times, and neither would Bellissimo. "At this time, we are not announcing any expected dignitaries," he said.

9. Tickets, which are on the pricey side, are going fast. The "All Session Full Games Pass," which grants access to all of the competition sessions for two weeks, costs $1,380, and was still available as of Friday. A pass to all the competition sessions for the first week is $750, while a pass for the second week of competition sessions is $675. Some of the all-day session passes for individual days, with prices ranging from $105 to $145, are sold out. But plenty of tickets for other days remain available, including an all-day pass for the driving competition at $82, and a similar pass for the dressage competition, at $345. For ticket information, visit the WEG site at: https://tryon2018.com/