Richmond 2015: The real spin

This is the blog post I promised myself I’d never write.

I promised myself I’d stay out of the Monday morning peloton-breakaway debates over whether Richmond 2015 was worth the effort, the cost and the inconvenience.

The main reason? The Hodges Partnership counts Richmond 2015 as a client, having worked closely with the group in the years leading up to the race. We were paid a monthly fee during that time time but we also donated a fair number of hours to the cause. A cause we felt was more than valid since we are believers in (to use one of our favorite baseball analogies) swinging for the fences.

Our role during that time has primarily been to help the race get exposure outside of Richmond, but like with many of our clients, it expanded to helping with content management, strategic counsel and yes sometimes amateur psychologists.

So most people who will read this will obviously think that I’m shilling or defending this grand effort because we’ve been paid to spin it.

Please go right ahead.

The wheels that spun on Libby Hill and throughout the region the last few days and the thousands of people who cheered them on help me make my case.

Here are my Monday morning thoughts:

• We tend to measure these events in the moment, when their true impacts are felt in the many moments to come. While I feel for restaurateurs who expected an early-week shortfall, my bet is the worldwide exposure Richmond received will have a ripple effect for you for years to come.
 
• This was extremely difficult to pull off. But we did. It wasn’t perfect—believe me. I sat in many meetings and listened in on many phone calls that were more than contentious and had many people who I respect pitted against one another. But in the end, Richmond as a region was able to pull off a major world-wide sporting event. For one shining moment we were on the same page. And it felt wonderful. We need to keep feeling that feeling. For more than five minutes. And we need to use that model to solve other regional issues. Let’s keep swinging for the fences.
 
• There will always be voices of discontent and they are healthy voices and they make things better. However, I think even they must admit a feeling of pride today as they saw their city and region fare well on a world stage. They will continue to debate things like final numbers and the “worth” of the event and they should. But it will be hard to refute the evidence of the thousands who lined the hills and the streets and who went home with hats and t-shirts.
 

I personally want to congratulate and thank Wilson Flohr, Tim Miller, Lee Kallman, Paul Shanks and the rest of the Richmond 2015 team. It was our honor to help them in any way we could. They pulled off an event that many people didn’t understand, and an event that people couldn’t really conceive and an event that many people doubted.

In the end they brought the world to Richmond. And the world will come back. Again and again.

Those wheels are already in motion and will do all the spinning for me.