The Super Bowl is coming to town, and taxpayers are footing the bill. From $370,000 for a three-hour press party to $1 million in NFL hotel bills and more, a conservative estimate is that Miami-Dade will fork over $4 million in public funds.
While the Super Bowl rakes in millions for teams and their owners, the NFL demands a variety of concessions from host cities, claiming that the event itself brings in enough revenue and future-tourism interest to justify such costs as, for example, Atlanta last year kicking in an extra $2 million to cover state and local tax costs incurred by the team.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy has argued that the amount of competitive bidding to hold the event demonstrates that cities benefit from being hosts, with the NFL and successful bidders claiming hosting the event brings in up to $500 million.
The sports economist Victor Matheson, however, places the figure at $30 million or less, and that it can even wind up costing money when one considers such factors as police and security overtime, transportation costs, parking and tax exemptions.
Miami-Dade County has not yet released the specifics of its Super Bowl bid.
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