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For years, promoter Bob Moscoffian has threatened to pull the Summer Nationals
out of Worcester. This year, the rhetoric nearly became reality.

by Chris Kanaracus

EVERY YEAR, for the past 10 years, Bob Moscoffian's massive Summer Nationals classic-car show has transformed Worcester into a wildly over-the-top hot-rodder's paradise -- at least for the July Fourth weekend. On Saturday night, during the height of the event, the city's sleepy downtown goes hawg wild. Last July, about 70,000 fans gathered to gawk at and cheer the annual "burnouts," flame-spewing drag races held on the north end of Main Street, near the Ernest A. Johnson tunnel.

Yet while the burnouts are fun -- and maybe the weirdest thing to happen in downtown all year long -- they're just one part of the event. All weekend, Green Hill Park is carpeted with a stunning assemblage of the country's best examples of classic-car nirvana from chopped-and-loaded Chevelles to sleek '30s Ford roadsters. Thousands of fans from around the country jam area hotels, restaurants, gas stations -- practically every business for miles around -- dropping about $5 million while they're at it. And it all happens on a weekend when people traditionally tend to leave the city.

Indeed, over its 10-year history, the Summer Nationals has blossomed: from a fledgling showcase attended mostly by auto-restoration fanatics, it has become of the largest and best-known events of its kind in the country, and one of the city's top tourist attractions.

Isn't this the sort of thing you'd hope would never leave town? With such success, the Nationals is here to stay, right? Well, think again. In recent weeks, Moscoffian has complained to local media (most notably during a June appearance on the Jordan Levy radio show, on the eve of the Nationals, no less) that city officials and area businesses don't do enough to help him. According to the fiftyish Moscoffian -- who also owns a performance shop in Oxford and runs a number of other, smaller car shows on the East Coast -- he's yet to turn a profit on the event, primarily due to a lack of major sponsors. Finding them, he says, is a task the city, the chamber of commerce, and the Worcester County Convention and Visitor's Bureau (a wing of the chamber partially funded by state and local money) should assist him with.

Unfortunately, it's familiar music. Moscoffian has aired similar gripes since at least 1996. This time, though, he says, his targets would do well to listen. "I'm giving Worcester one more chance. Then, I'm going to dance with somebody else." Moscoffian says he has an offer from one of Connecticut's American Indian-run casinos (he declined to name it) to move the Summer Nationals south of the border.

For now, Moscoffian has committed to one more year at Green Hill Park. But should he, his event's 6000 car owners and the hordes of attendant fans decide to leave, more than money would go with him. Even in a charitable view, Worcester can't claim a premium of nationally known annual blowouts, nor a steady stream of tourists dropping millions of dollars at local businesses. Let's face it: Worcester has an image problem. When you couple the Nationals' cachet with the stark reality of its economic benefits, the first reaction to Moscoffian's complaints might be to say: let's make this guy happy.

IF YOU ASK around, many will say they've tried to make Moscoffian happy, but that getting sponsors for the Nationals is not their job. "The Summer Nationals is a premier event," says Donna McCabe, director of the Convention and Visitors Bureau. "We went above and beyond the call of duty for Mr. Moscoffian. We did so much promotion for the Summer Nationals."

According to McCabe, her agency placed a link to the event on the Bureau's Web site, included it in its monthly newsletter, mailed promotional materials across the state, set up and produced a June press conference for the Nationals, and provided advice when asked.

In McCabe's view, those efforts should have been enough. Not only that, she says, but Moscoffian made no statements to the contrary, suggesting his complaints from past years were no more. "So we're working along, and we think everything's fine. Then I'm working late one night and Bob is on Jordan Levy, and he's trashing us. I'm absolutely dazed and shocked that he was disappointed with us," McCabe says. "Hopefully, this slandering will stop."

Others wouldn't call Moscoffian's statements slander, but off the record, they'll lay in a few digs. "Sometimes a person just isn't the best spokesman for his own event," says an observer close to the issue. "His favorite word is `fuck.'" Another adds, "He can be a difficult guy. He's a little rough around the edges."

For his part, Moscoffian says he takes back nothing he's said, but he hopes any differences with city officials are put to rest. "It's all under the dam. I think we're going to flow more evenly now," he says.

In any case, though, you've got to wonder how relevant Moscoffian's posture really is, when there is so much at stake. After all, millions of dollars are spun off by Moscoffian's event, and a good part of the money goes directly to area hotels -- all of which are members of the Convention and Visitor's Bureau.

For now, at least, tempers have cooled. On August 14, Moscoffian and Nationals marketing director Mary Ellen Hicks met with McCabe, city marketing director Susan Black, and Phil Niddrie of the chamber of commerce to hash out their differences and to look for solutions for next year. "The meeting went very well," says McCabe. "Bob apologized, we worked everything out, and I think things are going to go very smoothly from here on." According to McCabe, a steering committee made up of chamber, bureau, and city officals will be formed and will meet regularly with Moscoffian.

But there's one question left unanswered by all the news stories, personal feuds, and heated radio appearances: why doesn't Moscoffian have enough sponsors to stay in the black? You'd think the Nationals would be a natural match for gasoline, motor oil, and after-market car part companies, to name a few. As it turns out, Moscoffian could be partly to blame for his own woes. Although he's run the show for 10 years, it was only last spring that he hired Hicks, of Touchdown Marketing, to ease his load. In light of that, it's hard to swallow Moscoffian's complaints whole.

"I wear 10 different hats," says Moscoffian. "I put this event together out of my own pocket with a small staff." From the event's first year, he says, he hoped to turn a profit. "I've been putting the money back into the show. It gets bigger every year. We're getting closer." With the addition of Hicks, he says, things will hopefully change for the better. "We're getting the word out. Once sponsors see this, they're going to want in." Moscoffian has said he has preliminary interest from the Kodak Corporation, and will likely retain sponsorship from Anheuser-Busch (through Auburn beer distributor Consolidated Beverages) next year. It's a start, but if you ask other car-show promoters, Moscoffian is a bit late to the party.

Doc Riley, spokesman for Indianapolis's the Promotion Company, which promotes more than a dozen major shows like the Nationals across the country, says obtaining sponsors, even for events as large as the Nationals, is more complicated than it might seem. "The biggest thing is to get the national media coverage. If [Moscoffian] has that, he's made the first step. He can put that in front of potential sponsors." Riley says as soon as his company's event dates are finalized for the following year, he sends media packages to auto-enthusiast magazines like Car Culture and to classic-car television shows in the hopes of sparking some interest and coverage. "You have to do it ahead of time," says Riley, who also cautions Moscoffian not to expect the world from local officials. "They've got to be your friends. With some places, we're lucky to get our event in the yearly calendar. They can be a real ally. But you can't expect them to be an advertising agent for you."

And as others add, sponsorships aren't easily obtained these days, no matter the event, and especially in Worcester. Even the city's annual First Night celebration, which draws hundreds of thousands to the downtown area and scores of venues city-wide, has historically had difficulty making ends meet.

Phil Niddrie, in addition to his duties at the chamber of commerce, was in charge of securing funds for last July's fireworks show. But even he had difficulty; only a last-minute bailout from Local 1009, Worcester Fire Fighters, allowed the show to go on. Niddrie says one source of trouble is the relative lack, compared to past years, of large, homegrown local companies. "There's been a lot of changes recently. Lots of companies have been sold, bought out. The number of players has diminished."

As one example, Niddrie points to Tufts Health Plan. The troubled HMO, or health maintenance organization, was at one time the primary backer of the city's fireworks program. With Tufts' finances in ruin, the arrangement fell apart.

Niddrie says Moscoffian would be wise to focus on regional sponsors for his event. "Locally, you have a lot of people taking from the same pies. I mean, we all run events. Also, many times [potential sponsors] have their own mission. All-America Insurance backs mostly educational things. They may not necessarily see a benefit in something like the Summer Nationals."

THERE'S NO DOUBT, though, Worcester could do more -- much more -- to promote events like the Summer Nationals. Take last weekend's Latin-American Festival, which organizers expect to draw more than 40,000 attendees. Elmer Eubanks, former executive director of the Latino business trust Centro Las Americas and now a candidate for 12th district state representative, says the city did help out, but not nearly enough. "We had people coming from all over. New York, Puerto Rico, everywhere." But Eubanks says Centro's staff didn't have the marketing tools or expertise to take advantage. "We didn't have the foresight or the means to place ads in foreign-language newspapers, or talk to travel agents and offer package deals. I thought it was a great opportunity for the city to exploit that. They could do more." Still, he says, support from the city has improved under city manager Tom Hoover's watch. "Before he came in, I think many people wouldn't have wanted [the festival] here at all."

But events like the Latin-American Festival and the Nationals have succeeded where official marketing efforts have failed. Although, impossible-dream slogans like "Worcester: Paris of the '80s," and 1996's entry, "Right Place, Right Time," inspire laughs, they've done little to make the city into a tourist attraction. And for a city that has long struggled with its image as a decayed former manufacturing center, marketing hasn't been a strong suit, nor a priority. Should the Summer Nationals leave town, it would be a major mark against the chamber, the Convention and Visitors Bureau and, to a lesser extent, Black, who has received mostly high marks as Worcester's marketing director, but still has much to prove.

In fact, Black is the city's third marketing guru in five years. She replaced William Capers, who resigned after a bumbling four-month term. Prior to Capers, well-known former state representative Kevin O' Sullivan held the post. O'Sullivan was well-liked, but as the city's first-ever marketer, often took a beating from the City Council. Both men, though, worked for the chamber of commerce. Upon Capers' resignation, city officials moved the position in-house, and formed the Worcester Marketing Corporation, under which Black operates.

Yet Black's budget, by any estimate, is modest: just $390,000 annually, plus about $125,000 for her salary and clerical support staff. Of the $390,000, $150,000 is granted to the Convention and Visitor's Bureau to promote the Worcester Convention Center, and $40,000 is directed towards sports. Just $30,000 is marked for `community events,' such as the annual Columbus Day Parade, the Latin-American Festival, or the Nationals. This year, Black says, Moscoffian received $3000. "Any more than that, I can't support. The city is not a corporate sponsor. That is not the answer to Bob's problems. He's on the right track now."

Not only are Black's hands tied, at least financially, but also there's the simmering feud between the city and the Convention and Visitors Bureau, which doesn't help. The bureau, like the chamber of commerce, is a member organization made up of businesses from across the county, which supply some of its $1 million annual budget. About $400,000 comes from the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism in the form of a matching grant. In addition, the city pays the bureau $150,000 to handle booking and marketing for the Worcester Convention Center.

Until last year, though, the city allocated $300,000 for the work. The decision to halve it -- purportedly necessitated by the hiring of Black and the creation of her office -- sparked a minor war. Former director David A. Ferguson resigned in protest, claiming it would be impossible for the bureau to raise enough funds to match its annual grant. McCabe, a former chamber of commerce board member, joined the agency last January. Funding or not, some have criticized the low-profile bureau as ineffective. One observer close to the situation says city officials aren't impressed with the bureau's work on the $39 million convention center, which has kept a low profile since its gala opening in 1998.

In any event, Worcester has a long way to go, when you compare its marketing efforts to other cities. Take Providence, Rhode Island, which has received copious national press about the city's revitalization over the last 15 years. It's an oft-made comparison, and one that never fails to rankle many in Worcester. But you can't help notice the difference. Providence has made a concerted effort to attract the arts to its downtown area, resulting in improvements in the Downcity district and nearby. High-profile events, like the X-Games and last month's National Poetry Slam, have followed. The city even boasts its own, eponymous NBC television drama.

Perhaps the best approach, in lieu of an act of Hollywood, is one espoused by former marketing director O'Sullivan. "Marketing is always secondary [in city budgets]. You have to accept that. My philosophy has always been to try to build bridges between the city and individuals," he says.

It's sound, even sage advice, and perhaps the August meeting proves the parties involved with the Summer Nationals have taken it to heart. But how long it lasts, as the events of the past few months show, is an open question.

Chris Kanaracus can be reached at
ckanaracus[a]phx.com.