CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Over 300 people are making their way to the Queen City. However, thousands of people were originally expected but the pandemic has greatly scaled back the event.
As a result, money that Charlotte restaurants and businesses were banking on has been cut.
The RNC was supposed to be a huge opportunity for Charlotte. Now, the pandemic has caused the convention to be scaled-back.
Delegates and their guests have arrived for the RNC, but the crowd is much smaller than what was originally expected.
The owner of Middle C Jazz Club that is across from the convention center is speaking out on how the pandemic has changed what he was previously hoping for.
The club was one of the 16 places that the RNC was pushing convention attendees to go to rent for parties and events.
The owner said the show for Saturday night was sold out but he was originally supposed to have several parties and tables booked for over the weekend.
"Our revenue opportunity that week would've been in the 70, 80, 100 thousand dollars just in this small space in that confined period, so there was a great potential," Larry Farber said.
Nearly two years ago, the RNC selected Charlotte as the 2020 host city, pointing to numbers from the DNC.
Back in 2012, the DNC pumped around $164 million into the local economy.
A full RNC was estimated to bring in around $200 million.
