It was an offer the Dad Vail Regatta could not refuse, and one that the cash-strapped City of Philadelphia could not hope to match: $250,000 in guaranteed donations, and sharply lowered operating costs to boot.

In exchange, the 2010 regatta - the largest collegiate rowing event in the nation - will not take place on the Schuylkill, as it has for the last 55 years, but in the exclusive New Jersey suburb of Rumson, home to Wall Street titans and to stars like Bruce Springsteen and Queen Latifah.

The regatta, which draws about 3,000 collegiate rowers, has long been one of Philadelphia's most prominent athletic events and a major spring tourist attraction.

The sudden loss of such a premier event to a small suburb of New York City has created an uproar, not just in rowing circles but also in City Hall and among local businesses that profit from the regatta. Although the regatta's exile from Philadelphia could be temporary, there is no guarantee it will return soon, or ever.

Dad Vail organizers contend that they had little choice but to move, in part because the city steadily increased their cost of business. They say, too, that the Nutter administration was slow to respond when the nonprofit raised the alarm in late October and warned it might have to leave.

Philadelphia officials argue that the regatta's leaders decided to leave well before even meeting with the city, and they say it was the event's loss of sponsors - not city-related expenses - that led the regatta to seek refuge in Rumson's wealth.

Both sides have legitimate points.

But the regatta is leaving for only one real reason: money. Rumson had it; Philadelphia did not.

"If this was a fiscally neutral decision, we would not leave," said Jack Galloway, the regatta's committee chairman. "Rumson is a very upscale bedroom community of New York City. They have money to throw at the regatta, and we needed it."

The regatta, which is run and organized by a staff of unsalaried volunteers, ran into serious financial problems this year as sponsorships evaporated amid the economic downturn. Saturn, the General Motors subsidiary that is now dissolving, was one of the biggest sponsors to pull out. The tractor manufacturer John Deere was another. In all, sponsorship revenue was down 60 percent over the last two years, Galloway said.

After the 2009 race in May, the nonprofit had run through nearly all its reserve funds. Regatta leaders began quietly exploring alternate sites on rivers from Camden to Florida. Their goal was to find a site that would cost less and offer better local sponsorship opportunities.

"It was clear that if we held the Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia in 2010, there would not be a 2011 regatta," regatta vice president Kenneth Shaw said. "We would have exhausted our reserves."

This year, Philadelphia charged the Dad Vail close to $70,000 for the Mother's Day weekend event. That money covered expenses like groundskeeping, emergency medical services, and police, who are needed to shut down busy Kelly Drive.

For the first time in 2009, organizers of many major Philadelphia events - such as the Mummers Parade and six city ethnic parades - were told they must cover the city's costs in light of the economic crisis. That sudden expense led many organizers to scale back or cancel their events.

The Dad Vail Regatta case is different. The rowing nonprofit has long reimbursed the city and Fairmount Park for the public expense of the races. But that bill grew larger every year, Dad Vail officials said, and they had little confidence the city would significantly trim it in the years ahead.

Other cities charge far less for similar services, Dad Vail officials said. Camden, for instance, hosted the annual Frostbite Regatta for the first time last weekend, charging organizers $500 for the race. Last year, when the Frostbite event was held on Boathouse Row, Philadelphia charged more than $6,000, Shaw said.

Nutter administration officials said the city must be sure it recoups its costs, given Philadelphia's tenuous fiscal situation. But they also noted that Dad Vail's economic problems are far larger than the $70,000 city charge, given that the event costs the nonprofit about $500,000 a year.

"I think that the Dad Vail organization faced some challenges this year, and had to make a tough decision. The city-service cost was a part of that decision but not a major reason for it," said City Representative Melanie Johnson, who coordinates special events for the Nutter administration.

By moving to Rumson, the regatta expects not only to pay far less in municipal service fees, but also to collect much more from local donors. Already, $100,000 has been deposited in Dad Vail accounts courtesy of Michael Gooch, a Rumson-area resident who is the chief executive officer of an international brokerage-services group. Rumson officials have promised to come up at least $150,000 more in private money.

Philadelphia's City Hall was likely in no position to match that largesse, but Dad Vail organizers wasted little time finding out for sure.