Another event many were looking forward to this summer was cancelled Friday – The Tour of Utah.
With commitments to hold the 16th annual Tour of Utah coming up in the next two months, the organizer of the Tour, The Larry H. Miller Sports and Entertainment Group, decided it only made sense to pull the plug now.
John Kimball, the Tour’s Managing Director told KPCW it was a tough decision, but a smart one, given the uncertainly of the COVID-19 pandemic. He says there are a lot of people looking forward to getting back to a new normal this summer…
“We really hoped that this would be one of those events that would allow us to get back to normal,” he said. “The commitment that we have to make so far out in advance to the event was what was hindering us to be able to execute the event properly. You know it was a tough decision to make. We’re heartbroken. We absolutely love the support that Park City and the surrounding communities gives us every year and we look forward to getting back on the calendar for next year.”
With lots of sponsorships involved – Kimball is hopeful the sponsors will return next year, but with so much uncertainty they didn’t feel they could move forward this year. He says they’ve asked their sponsors to hang on the money they budgeted this year, but with so many businesses having a tough time, there are no guarantees.
“Quite honestly all the sponsors all the other partners are also dealing as we're all in this together,” he said. “They're dealing with their own issues and scenarios and so we just felt it was in the best interest of everybody to take a break this year and then look to plan and put together an exceptional race in 2021.”
Even Larry H. Miller Sports and Entertainment Group is having a tough time. Kimball says there were some layoffs that went into effect last week.
“We are vetting through all the things that we can do to keep our employees on board,” he said. “We did have some cuts this last Friday. It was very difficult for the organization to make those cuts and we're doing the best we can to hold things together but with events and concerts and games and different things when those things don't happen it makes it very difficult to keep things going as they have done.”
Tour of Utah Managing Director, John Kimball. The plan for now he says is to go back to the local organizing committees and sponsors next year and try to put together a similar race.
