by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Exactly three years from Wednesday, Jacksonville will host the 2005 Super Bowl, which the Super Bowl Host Committee estimates will cost just over $8 million.
That may sound like a pretty penny, but considering the economic potential of the game, that figure isn’t much. And, it may be well worth the investment.
With the 2005 Super Bowl will come many things: worldwide exposure, the National Football League’s two best teams and season-long promotions touting Jacksonville as the ultimate destination for those teams. In addition to media and corporate representatives, about 100,000 people will descend upon Jacksonville. And, while only about 80,000 will actually attend the game, they will all bring their wallets.
And they’ll spend money. Lots of money. More than imaginable.
Surprisingly, it won’t actually take that much money for Jacksonville to see an almost half-billion dollar economic impact from the game and the week-long festivities associated with it. When the Host Committee submitted its application for the 2005 game to the NFL, the application contained an appendix of the projected budget for the game, which comes to $8.35 million.
Consider what the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation (New Orleans’ Host Committee) spent on this year’s game and the projected economic impact.
Jay Cicero, the president and CEO of the GNOSF, said he submitted a budget of $5.1 million for the game and projected New Orleans and the surrounding community would see an impact of just over $300 million. Cicero said reports that the host communities don’t actually reap many benefits by hosting a Super Bowl simply are not true.
“It’s a huge number and it’s projected from what we did a few years ago when we hosted the game in 1997,” said Cicero. “We projected the game would have an impact of about $309 million. That’s an unfathomable figure.”
The $309 million figure is broken down into two categories: $156 million in direct income and $153 million in indirect income.
“Direct income is money paid to actually do something like stay in a hotel room,” explained Cicero. “Indirect income is that earned by the hotel staff and its vendors. It’s the trickle-down income.
“Even if the impact is half that [$309 million figure], it’s worth doing. Even if it’s a third, it’s worth doing.”
Using a straight ratio formula, Jacksonville’s investment of $8.35 million in the 2005 game could net the area just over $500 million. For an area that’s considered recession-proof and should have two new sports facilities and several new downtown residential housing complexes, half a billion dollars will come in handy.
The revenue for Jacksonville’s proposed budget is divided into 10 different categories with private sponsorship ($2.75 million) and in-kind government services ($1.9 million) topping the list. Because the Host Committee is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, the private sponsorship figure can be adjusted as the need — and willingness to donate — arises. The City will provide another $850,000, while the Tourist Development Council will kick in another $275,000.
“That’s the hotel bed tax,” said Mary Beth Mickey, TDC administrator, explaining that the bed tax is assessed per hotel, per room per night of occupancy. “The TDC is funded by the bed tax. They [the Host Committee] have already gotten the money from us. It was in a contingency account.”
The rest of the Host Committee revenue will come from hotel
surcharges ($300,000), ticket
surcharges ($225,000), state grants/matching funds ($750,000), license fees/merchandising ($500,000), in-kind services from the business community ($750,000) and parking revenue ($50,000).