NBA All-Star Game also attracts other pros - strippers, prostitutes
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Ohio
The NBA All-Star Game is a celebration of basketball, but for many in town now, it's as much a celebration of decadence.
Along with limousines, free-flowing champagne and celebrity-filled parties comes booming business in the sex industries – both legal and illegal. Local officials think significant numbers of prostitutes and strippers already have made their way to North Texas seeking a huge male audience with disposable income.
Both groups are getting scrutiny this week as Cowboys Stadium hosts probably its highest-profile event since its opening last year.
Dallas police already have announced a crackdown on prostitution during All-Star Game Week. Arlington police unveiled a new effort this week to bust online hookers, but department officials said it was unrelated to the All-Star Game. The city's Special Events Enforcement Team also will be monitoring sexually oriented businesses to ensure that they are operating legally and complying with "no touch" restrictions.
It's widely understood that sex is big business at sports mega-events, but it's tough to put numbers on the lusty and sometimes dark side of the All-Star Game.
A trade association for adult nightclubs estimates that the number of dancers in the Dallas area could increase by as much as 25 percent to handle the extra business.
Figures are tougher to come by when the business is illegal. But experts say the total is probably far lower than the estimate, circulating on the Internet, that as many as 100,000 prostitutes will travel to North Texas for next year's Super Bowl.
"Any of us who are considered experts in the field are not going to give you a number," said Melissa Farley, a researcher and anti-prostitution activist. "No one has ever measured that. You can't."
She said the best estimates sometimes come from arrest figures, but those reflect only a small and unknown percentage of what's really happening on the streets, escort Web sites and massage parlors.
From Craigslist on up
According to media reports, Jacksonville, Fla., police arrested about a dozen out-of-town prostitutes at a large hotel during the week of the 2005 Super Bowl. At the Super Bowl last year in Tampa, Fla., another news report said the state took custody of 24 minors brought to the city as prostitutes.
Rachel Irby, residential supervisor of DIGNITY Programs, a prostitution diversion effort in Phoenix, said the types of prostitution accompanying national sporting events vary greatly. There probably will be women advertising on Craigslist and other Internet sites, as well as high-end escorts. It's not just the wealthy who make up the clientele, she said.
"You're going to have a lot of middle-class people in town, and they're willing to spend their very last dollar to have fun," Irby said.
Before and after the 2008 Super Bowl in Glendale, Ariz., DIGNITY staff members scoured the area. Irby said they found 300 to 500 new prostitutes who were there apparently for Super Bowl week.
She said she hadn't heard the 50,000 to 100,000 estimate for next year's Super Bowl, which was mentioned in November's National Prostitute Diversion Conference in Dallas.
Farley, who operates the Prostitution Research & Education Web site, said any large gathering – from the Super Bowl to a political convention – will be attractive for circuit girls. Those are prostitutes, often controlled by pimps and sometimes underage, who travel from city to city looking for business, she said.
"Too many people believe what the pimps say about prostitution, or they believe [the movie] Pretty Woman," Farley said. "They think it's a fun, sexy business that women get rich in. Nothing could be further from the truth."
Cashing in
On the legal side of the sex industry, this is expected to be one of the most lucrative weeks of the year.
Angelina Spencer, executive director of the Association of Club Executives, a trade group for men's clubs, said this is a blockbuster weekend for nearly any nightclub or bar near the All-Star Game.
"Anyone who is in the entertainment business will probably have a nice week in Dallas," she said.
Dancers will travel from all parts of the country – although most will come from this region – to look for clubs packed with paying customers, Spencer said. Media reports of dancers making thousands of dollars in just a few days are common.
Spencer, who previously ran a strip club in Cleveland, said her most profitable nights were just after football, basketball and baseball games. Something like the All-Star Game will be even larger, with many more visitors looking to celebrate.
"They're not going to mind braving the cold and snow," she said.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/…
Along with limousines, free-flowing champagne and celebrity-filled parties comes booming business in the sex industries – both legal and illegal. Local officials think significant numbers of prostitutes and strippers already have made their way to North Texas seeking a huge male audience with disposable income.
Both groups are getting scrutiny this week as Cowboys Stadium hosts probably its highest-profile event since its opening last year.
Dallas police already have announced a crackdown on prostitution during All-Star Game Week. Arlington police unveiled a new effort this week to bust online hookers, but department officials said it was unrelated to the All-Star Game. The city's Special Events Enforcement Team also will be monitoring sexually oriented businesses to ensure that they are operating legally and complying with "no touch" restrictions.
It's widely understood that sex is big business at sports mega-events, but it's tough to put numbers on the lusty and sometimes dark side of the All-Star Game.
A trade association for adult nightclubs estimates that the number of dancers in the Dallas area could increase by as much as 25 percent to handle the extra business.
Figures are tougher to come by when the business is illegal. But experts say the total is probably far lower than the estimate, circulating on the Internet, that as many as 100,000 prostitutes will travel to North Texas for next year's Super Bowl.
"Any of us who are considered experts in the field are not going to give you a number," said Melissa Farley, a researcher and anti-prostitution activist. "No one has ever measured that. You can't."
She said the best estimates sometimes come from arrest figures, but those reflect only a small and unknown percentage of what's really happening on the streets, escort Web sites and massage parlors.
From Craigslist on up
According to media reports, Jacksonville, Fla., police arrested about a dozen out-of-town prostitutes at a large hotel during the week of the 2005 Super Bowl. At the Super Bowl last year in Tampa, Fla., another news report said the state took custody of 24 minors brought to the city as prostitutes.
Rachel Irby, residential supervisor of DIGNITY Programs, a prostitution diversion effort in Phoenix, said the types of prostitution accompanying national sporting events vary greatly. There probably will be women advertising on Craigslist and other Internet sites, as well as high-end escorts. It's not just the wealthy who make up the clientele, she said.
"You're going to have a lot of middle-class people in town, and they're willing to spend their very last dollar to have fun," Irby said.
Before and after the 2008 Super Bowl in Glendale, Ariz., DIGNITY staff members scoured the area. Irby said they found 300 to 500 new prostitutes who were there apparently for Super Bowl week.
She said she hadn't heard the 50,000 to 100,000 estimate for next year's Super Bowl, which was mentioned in November's National Prostitute Diversion Conference in Dallas.
Farley, who operates the Prostitution Research & Education Web site, said any large gathering – from the Super Bowl to a political convention – will be attractive for circuit girls. Those are prostitutes, often controlled by pimps and sometimes underage, who travel from city to city looking for business, she said.
"Too many people believe what the pimps say about prostitution, or they believe [the movie] Pretty Woman," Farley said. "They think it's a fun, sexy business that women get rich in. Nothing could be further from the truth."
Cashing in
On the legal side of the sex industry, this is expected to be one of the most lucrative weeks of the year.
Angelina Spencer, executive director of the Association of Club Executives, a trade group for men's clubs, said this is a blockbuster weekend for nearly any nightclub or bar near the All-Star Game.
"Anyone who is in the entertainment business will probably have a nice week in Dallas," she said.
Dancers will travel from all parts of the country – although most will come from this region – to look for clubs packed with paying customers, Spencer said. Media reports of dancers making thousands of dollars in just a few days are common.
Spencer, who previously ran a strip club in Cleveland, said her most profitable nights were just after football, basketball and baseball games. Something like the All-Star Game will be even larger, with many more visitors looking to celebrate.
"They're not going to mind braving the cold and snow," she said.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/…
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