Park City Council at its Thursday meeting unanimously approved Deer Valley Resort’s request to host the Fox U.S. Open of Mountain Biking in September.
From Sept. 10-13, the nation’s best bikers will hit the resort’s trails, specifically those on Bald Eagle Mountain.
Deer Valley estimates they will see about 10,000 visitors that week for the competition. They believe it can be a point of pride and inspiration for the Park City mountain biking community, showcasing its biking scene to the rest of the country and fueling the dreams of local bikers. The resort estimates the competition will generate $1.25 million in business and sustain 237 Park City jobs.
The U.S. Open is the final stop along the Monster Energy Pro Downhill Series, which stops at Solitude July 15-19. The series is just below the UCI World Cup series, whose bikers often compete in the Olympics.
“Deer Valley is a great resort partner. They’ve been great to work with over the years, and we always try to help out our resort partners in town,” said Park City Special Event Manager Chris Phinney. “The U.S. Open is an on-brand sporting event. It’s kind of the thread of our community; the backbone is definitely coming here for athletic events.”
Deer Valley personnel, including Senior Director of Mountain Operations Garrett Lang, presented to the council before the competition’s approval. They assuaged concerns about travel and disruption to the lives of residents near the resort. During the event, competitors will take up the front two of the five Snow Park Lodge parking lots, and the drive-up lane will be an event hub.
“Deer Valley is really part of what made Park City into a world-class mountain biking mecca,” Lang said. “We hosted a lot of (National Off-Road Bicycle Association races) and World Championship Series downhill races in the past, so we’re really trying to go back to our roots there. We have hosted World Cup freestyle events in the winter for decades. … So you already know we’re world-class hosts.”
Deer Valley will use similar plans for traffic mitigation, public transit usage, parking and security as when they host the World Cups in February. Like the World Cups, tickets will be free for fans, and the rest of the resort will remain open to the public. If successful, Deer Valley hopes to host the U.S. Open and other mountain biking competitions in the future.
“I think this is amazing,” said councilor Bill Ciraco. “I really would like to say thank you to the team at Deer Valley. Doing an event like this, people think it just makes money for you, but no, there’s risk in this, and after this past season, it’s got to be hard to take more risk.”
Ciraco said that the council will supply any resources necessary to help out Deer Valley and the competition. He’s an advocate for such competitions coming to town, believing if any issues arise with the public it’s because they haven’t supported or managed the competitions well enough.
Just before approving the competition, the council opened the meeting up for public comment, all of which lauded the initiative. Ciraco applauded the public for their comments and efforts, saying it helped make the council’s decision easy.
“I’ve had the pleasure of competing in the Deer Valley NCS race (held on the resort’s double black downhill trail) back in the day several times,” said Park City resident Nick Van Dine. “Super cool, and it was really a bummer when our community lost that. That was almost two decades ago, and we haven’t seen elite, professional, top-tier mountain bike racing in town since. I think it’s super important to bring that back.”