Pittsburgh should get a desperately needed image boost from baseball's All-Star Game in two years, but it's not likely to get much help on its bottom line, economists say.

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Last week's All-Star weekend was supposed to generate $85.6 million for Houston's economy and the 2005 events is supposed to produce $50 million for Detroit.

Estimates were not available for Pittsburgh yesterday, but with the city currently on track for a projected $78 million budget deficit in 2006, city officials will surely trumpet windfalls they can get.

"There will be tremendous bucks. The image thing and the timing of it is really, really very important," said city Councilman Sala Udin, who represents Downtown and parts of the North Side.

If Pittsburgh wins state tax reform and if it successfully cuts some of its spending over the next two years as planned -- two big ifs -- the game could signal a new coming out party for the city, the councilman said.

"The city's taken some black eyes. It's good for the world to know, especially by 2006, that our problems will be behind us," Udin said. "We'll have a new mayor in office, and we'll be able to say to the world: Pittsburgh is back."

Pirates officials were mum yesterday on anything about the game, waiting for the official announcement of Pittsburgh's choice at today's news conference with Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig.

In Detroit and Houston, the estimated numbers for out-of-town visitors were 30,000 to 67,000, respectively. According to the Web site of the Greater Pittsburgh Convention and Visitors Bureau, which helped put together the city's proposal to Majoar League Baseball, there are nearly 14,000 hotel rooms for visitors within 35 minutes of Downtown. About 3,370 are Downtown and a new, 198-room Marriott SpringHill Suites hotel is under construction next to PNC Park on the North Shore.

Mariann Geyer, executive director of the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, also helped with the proposal and said it highlighted the proximity of PNC Park to the new David L. Lawrence Convention Center. The center has panoramic views of the North Shore and is large enough to host fan events in the days leading up to the game.

The "spillover effect" from the game should be a boon for the local economy, Geyer said, with full hotel rooms, restaurants, parking lots and shops. There also could be additional business for small operations, such as florists and other vendors, from game-related customers.

"The sky's the limit with something like this. There's really something for everyone," she said.

But many economics experts who study the intersection of commerce and sports have found the sky-high expectations rarely, if ever, pay off.

Victor Matheson, an economics professor at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, studied labor statistics from 23 All-Star games from 1973 to 1997 and found actual job growth lagged behind projected growth in every case. Games in Montreal and Toronto were omitted.

In a study of county sales taxes at All-Star sites, in Oakland, Anaheim and San Diego, Calif., he showed quarterly tax collections dropped in each case.

According to Matheson, the sales tax drop shows that "mega-events" such as All-Star games can crowd out other possible city visitors: Somebody who otherwise might have booked a convention or conference that weekend in July will pick another date, to avoid the crowding.

Another theory is that visitors who would go to a city anyway that summer to see the sights pick All-Star weekend for something extra to do.

"There might be identical people going to different things," said Dennis Coates, an economics professor at the University of Maryland-Baltimore.

"Instead of traipsing around the riverfront or going to Carnegie Mellon, they go to a baseball game. They're still there three days, but not all of them are spent congregating in a stadium."

Major League Baseball typically holds All-Star festivities at new ballparks such as PNC Park, Detroit's Comerica Park and Houston's Minute Maid Park, Matheson noted, partly to show how the parks generate business.

All-Star games are certainly image-boosters, he said, but the question for taxpayers is if the cost of new parks is worth it.

"You would never turn down the All-Star games, but what do you have to spend to get it? ... If Major League Baseball says, if you build a new stadium, the All-Star Game will pay for the stadium right there, that's not something you should believe," Matheson said.

Mayor Tom Murphy's office had no estimates yesterday on extra government costs for an All-Star weekend, such as security, traffic enforcement or even a general beautification of the city.

Paying for any extra, large-scale capital improvements such as street repair will be near impossible: With Pittsburgh's credit rating at junk bond status, it probably cannot borrow any money until January 2006, according to its Act 47 recovery plan.

That will be too late to pay for large restoration projects and -- in a time of looming city tax increases and job cuts -- would be politically precarious anyway. The next city mayor's race is in 2005 and, if history is a guide, candidates will likely try to avoid any stadium financing controversies.

Officials from the Pirates and the city will still have to get to work soon. Work is already under way in Detroit in preparation for next year's game -- resurfacing streets and planning to demolish run-down buildings near their park. Detroit officials visited Houston last week to study its preparations for the event, the Detroit News reported.

In Texas, the state comptroller estimated last week's All-Star Game would generate up to $85.6 million for the local economy. Under Texas law, the state Legislature issues payments to municipalities hosting major sporting events to defray expenses. Houston received $4.18 million from the state.

With the help of private booster groups, the city rebuilt roads and planted 3,700 trees near Minute Maid Park, among other enhancements, said Frank Michel, communications director for Houston Mayor Bill White.

Whatever the real benefits turn out to be, the work paid off in some ways: A poll by the Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau showed that visitors' positive images of the city increased nearly 50 percent after the All-Star Game.

"It's been a pretty fantastic year in Houston," which hosted the Super Bowl in February, Michel said. "The thing we're hearing from people out of town is they had no idea the city is like this. It's not the Houston they've previously known. They had no idea so much has happened Downtown."

Similar comments are just the salve that Pittsburgh may need.

"Anything that brings a positive spotlight on this region is great," said Geyer. "At least it's a positive headline and not, 'City Is Headed in Downward Spiral.' "

From a baseball standpoint, at least, this year's game had a positive impact on the Astros.

"Overall, it was extremely beneficial not only to the season ticket holders, who got to see a once-in-a-generation game, but also to the Astros," who saw a boost in season ticket sales, said John Sorrentino, vice president of ticket sales and services for the Astros.

But don't expect it to be easy to grab a ticket for the events.

Minute Maid Park has just under 41,000 seats. Major League Baseball took an allotment of seats, although Sorrentino would not give an exact figure.

All season ticket holders and some partial-season ticket holders were given an opportunity to purchase the remaining All-Star Game tickets, which included entrance to the popular Home Run Derby, but not everyone did.

No tickets were available to the general public.

The number of season ticket holders jumped from 15,000 for the 2003 season to 20,000 this year, Sorrentino said. He attributed the increase to both the arrival of two star pitchers, Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte, and the All-Star Game.

"All three of those factors came together to boost sales," he said.

When the Pirates hosted the 1994 All-Star Game, tickets were made available first to season ticket holders and partial-season ticket holders. The remaining tickets were sold to the general public through a mail lottery.

The previous game was held at Three Rivers Stadium and drew about 59,000 fans, but PNC Park seats only about 38,000.

In Houston, game tickets ranged from $200 for club and field tickets to $40 for standing-room-only.