Dad Vail rows to Jersey

A piece of Philadelphia history is moving, at least a temporary, out of the city.

A piece of Philadelphia history is moving, at least a temporary, out of the city.

Listen:
[audio: 091117tmrow.mp3]

The Dad Vail, the nation’s largest collegiate regatta, has been held in Philadelphia since 1953. But sponsorship has fallen off in recent years. Officials in Rumson, New Jersey, in Mommouth County, offered the organizers money to hold it along the Navesink river. Harry Stinger is the spokesman for Dad Vail. He says the move is purely economic.

Stinger: The cost of putting on the race is very expensive and last year there was an analysis done and it showed there was a decline of revenues coming in. Faced with this reality officials from the city of Rumson approached the Dad Vail and inquired whether they would be willing to come there and in evidence of good faith they presented the organizing committee with a check for $100,000 dollars.

Stinger says the move is just for a year at this point, and the race will remain headquartered in Philadelphia.