Over at the offices of the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee, they were grinning pretty broadly today. The reason: the Texas Comptroller said that up to $31.2 million in sales-tax revenue would be made available to pay back the committee–as well as the cities of Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington and Irving–for expenses related to the big game in 2011. That amount, to be placed in a so-called Major Events Trust Fund, was based on a recent study estimating how much the game will generate in economic impact for the region.
The study put that figure at a whopping $612 million. While the committee had been hoping for a $36.2 million reimbursement based on the $612 million, the comptroller apparently was a tad less sanguine about the game’s revenue-generating potential. The committee will take it, though–and figures it could snag about $20 million of the $31.2 million, with the remainder going to the four cities. Said Bill Lively, president and CEO of the host committee: “This is a great day for North Texas.”
