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Study: Denver Will Lose Tens Of Millions If Stock Show Moves

DENVER (CBS4) - If the National Western Stock Show moves to Aurora it will cost the city of Denver tens of millions of dollars every year, according to a study presented to the city council Wednesday afternoon.

The study estimates a $324 million a year economic impact to Denver if the stock show leaves the city. One councilmember told CBS4 after the study they have no intention of letting the Stock Show move.

Some of the losses are from resources most might not think about, such as losing more than $100 million in philanthropic money. It also calculates a significant tax impact.

The study said there would be $712,000 in lost tax revenue from the Stock Show itself and another $2 million from lost sales tax at Denver hotels and restaurants. The study also estimates the move would cost Denver businesses $31 million.

Visit Denver, the Downtown Denver Partnership and the Sheraton Hyatt Hotel Association paid for the study.

Denver had applied with Aurora for millions of dollars in state tourism money to help with the move. But city council indicted after the study was released they will pull out of that application now.

"The evidence is clearly mounting against Denver losing the Stock Show," councilmember Charlie Brown said. "We're going to have to invest; we're going to have to expand. I think right now that's the sense of the council -- stay where you are but expand. Don't move to Aurora."

The Stock Show needs city council to let it out of its lease at the Denver Coliseum, which runs another 29 years, in order to move.

The Stock Show is hoping to move to a 300-acre site in Aurora next to a planned Gaylord Entertainment hotel and convention complex.

Watch an interview with Denver Mayor Michael Hancock from the CBS4 Morning News on Thursday where he discusses the stock show and other issues in the video clip below:

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