ST. LOUIS —
The 2020 U.S. Olympic team trials for gymnastics that were set to take place in St. Louis were postponed on Wednesday
The four-day event would’ve taken place in June at Enterprise Center. The announcement comes days after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were postponed until 2021.
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If the team trials were to take place in St. Louis, it would be the first time in history that the team would host team trials for both men and women’s gymnastics in the same location.
“We’re such a great city, in that we have a small footprint that could absorb and really create this great excitement for the community,” St. Louis Sports Commission Vice President of Events Chris Roseman said.
Although there is a chance that the team trials may take place elsewhere, the St. Louis Sports Commission feels confident the event will still be in St. Louis.
The commission has been working with USA Gymnastics, the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee to discuss future plans.
“They are wonderful conversations,” Roseman said. “Very positive. They’ve got a lot of moving parts. In the case of the Olympic Trials, those are dependent upon the IOC saying the dates for the Olympics.”
On Tuesday, the IOC announced that the Tokyo Olympics could be postponed as late as the summer of 2021.
The postponement of the event won’t only affect the Olympic athletes participating. It will affect many local businesses, restaurants, and hotels who would’ve reaped financial benefits from tourism.
“I feel for the businesses, and the attractions,” Roseman said. “They go to the event each night. They’re spending money in hotels, restaurants, attractions.”
Roseman added that the St. Louis Sports Commission can’t give an exact number on how much money would be brought into the city from the event, but they can provide an estimate based on other events of this magnitude.
“That economic impact for other events is worth $15 to 20 million,” Roseman said.
If the gymnastics team trials would still take place in St. Louis, then they would still be hosted at Enterprise Center as planned.
“We’re under the understanding that we’re still going to keep working with Enterprise Center,” Roseman said. “And target Enterprise Center to host the event next June outside of that NHL playoff window.”
If the Tokyo Olympics would take place earlier than the summer of 2021, then that could change.
Roseman added that USA Gymnastics, USOPC, IOC, and NBC will all identify the available open stadiums, arenas and venues to host the trials across the country.
Roseman said the event is nearly sold out all four days, which means nearly 17,000 tickets were sold per day.
The St. Louis Sports Commission is waiting for more information from the IOC before deciding how to handle the tickets moving forward.
Roseman added that the situation is very fluid with the potential for logistics to evolve daily.
