RALEIGH -- After years of crafting pitches for a National Hockey League All-Star Game, Raleigh tourism officials awoke Thursday to the realization that they have nine months to figure out how to do it.
Among the most pressing tasks will be figuring out how to market the event and come up with a slate of activities that will appeal to both hockey fans and those who don't follow the sport.
Although every NHL All-Star Game includes a line-up of signature events, the Triangle is expecting to put its personal touch on the January 2011 game through a series of additional activities that could include live music, partnerships with local restaurants and the clustering of events in places such as North Hills and Glenwood South.
On Thursday, Raleigh boosters said the region has shed its label as a nice place with a lack of really nice accommodations.
"Five or 10 years ago, Raleigh and Wake County didn't have the physical resources to have the All-Star Game here," Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker said. "It's not one thing, and it is the private investment as well as the public investment."
The nature and location of the All-Star Game events will be determined in the coming months. A committee of business and community leaders is being formed to coordinate the planning and marketing efforts with the league and the Carolina Hurricanes. A similar approach was used in 2008 when the RBC Center hosted two early rounds of the NCAA men's basketball tournament.
Raleigh's downtown convention center is likely to be the location of many league-sponsored events. The 500,000-square-foot facility has rescheduled its bookings for the week of Jan. 24 through Jan. 30 to accommodate the NHL. The game itself will be Jan. 30.
Roger Krupa, the convention center's director, said the league has expressed interest in holding a fan fest in the exhibit hall and an All-Star banquet and breakfast.
League officials are also keen on having music at an outdoor amphitheater being built next to the convention center. The amphitheater is to open this summer.
"I think they were a little bit enamored with the possibility of an outdoor concert or concerts," Krupa said.
Raleigh's progress
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman made Raleigh's selection official at a Thursday afternoon news conference outside the RBC Center in front of hundreds of Canes fans.
In listing the reasons that the league chose Raleigh over other cities, Bettman mentioned the remodeled terminal at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, the opening of the convention center and the construction of several luxury hotels.
"You promised to make these improvements, and you made them," Bettman said. "I promised you an All-Star game when you did these things. Well, here we are. Congratulations."
The NHL requires that any team applying to host the All-Star Game have at least 2,000 hotel rooms reserved in advance, and those rooms are expected to be in four-star or five-star hotels. For the Hurricanes bid, that meant reserving all the rooms, suites and meeting space in eight hotels in Wake County.
Two weeks ago, four NHL officials arrived in Raleigh from New York and spent two days touring the convention center and carefully inspecting the eight hotels. The visit amounted to a final test to see whether the Triangle had the first-rate amenities necessary to play host to thousands of VIPs.
Scott Dupree, vice president of sports marketing for the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the two biggest obstacles to the Canes' landing the All-Star Game have always been a lack of meeting space and high-end hotels.
With the new convention center and the opening of three hotels - a Marriott in downtown Raleigh, the Renaissance Hotel at North Hills and The Umstead Hotel in Cary - the region now has ample meeting space and an additional 779 rooms.
"At this point what we've done so far is what was required in the bid," Dupree said. "I can tell you we're going to make sure we exceed the league's requirements."
