NNSL (Mar 27/98) - The Arctic Winter Games International Committee has commissioned a study to look at the economic impact of the Arctic Winter Games on Yellowknife.

Ian Legaree, technical director for the Games' international committee, said the idea for the study sprung from the 1992 Arctic Winter Games in Whitehorse.

"The economic development department in Whitehorse came up with a model and plugged some numbers in and said the impact of the Games was X," he said. The same was done in Slave Lake in 1996, when a researcher from the University of Alaska did a formal study.

"All three give us interesting numbers, but none is that extensive."

The Yellowknife study will be the most comprehensive to date. Researcher Tim Barrett spent 10 days in the city conducting interviews with coaches, parents, and local businessmen during the Games.

"It's going to be a fairly in-depth study," Legaree said. "He's now back at the University of Alberta pulling his data together and should finish his study in six weeks."

Barrett is a research assistant in the faculty of physical education and recreation at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. He said that past studies past have relied in part on estimates rather than actual results.

"The study done in 1994 was done before the Games and estimated the budget and the number of people who would be coming to Slave River," he said. At the last Games, the study was conducted during and after the Games, but still only included estimated numbers.

AWG officials have cited a rough estimate of a boost to the city's economy of about $4 million.

Barrett said that his most recent will include information gathered through surveys conducted during the Games in interviews. Data collected will be broken down in terms of the effect of the Games on Yellowknife and the NWT in general.

The report of the economic impact study is expected to be completed some time in May.