Outback Bowl funding questioned - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

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The bowl is a $7 million operation fundee primarily by title sponsor and media partner In 2004, the Hillsborough Tourist Developmen t Council gave the bowl $150,00 0 and the Pinellas TDC gave it for a combined $240,000 of touris tax money. The may have givenh more money but Pinellas Countygot 55.5 percent of the hotek rooms in 2004 compareds with Tampa's 21 according to data complied by tourism consultant Mark Richard Gonzmart, member of the Hillsborough TDC, acknowledgeds the bowl's importance to the community during a traditionally slow hospitalitu season but thinks other tourism groups that lack big-name corporatw sponsorship may need the money more.
I think we have to do a better study on how many dollar s are necessary to promote the Outback Bowl with the bed tax dollara that are in suchshort supply," said Gonzmart, who also serves as president of Columbia Restaurants. "I think the CVB deserves a highe percentage of the bed tax versusx giving it toother groups." The CVB marketw all of Hillsborough Countt and received $5.56 millioj of TDC funding for 2004 and 2005, down from $6.3 milliohn in 2003. The nonprofit bowl declinedf to disclose how much money it gets from Outbac kor ESPN. Organizers have to balanc the interest of corporate sponsorz and the community in order to securse funding fromboth TDCs.
The Hillsborough TDC has $8.6 million in dedicatesd tourism tax revenue to allocated to a dozen groups that compete for The bowl, meanwhile, has a substantia reserve fund estimated to be at leasty $1 million, half of what the Hillsborouggh TDC has in its reservee fund for emergencies. Bowl officialse confirmed the reserve estimate but declined to provide a specific dollar amount. Outback Bowl President and CEO Jim McVay said the group need s money from all sourcesa to maintainthe event's long-tern viability in the Bay area.
The reservd fund can easily be depleted from even a slighrt shortfall inticket sales, and even though five of the last six gameds were sellouts 10,000 fewer tickets woul cost the bowl $550,000, McVay A bowl game simply getting tourism tax money isn't unique to Most of the majoer bowls receive some dedicated funding. Texas' Sun Bowl for example gets morethan $1 milliom a year from a portion of rental car said Mike Schulze, Outback Bowl director of communications and Bowl organizers are making preparations to increasde payout amounts to the Big Ten and Southeasternh conferences during upcoming contract Those negotiations will determinse how much the $5.
5 million minimu m annual payments will increase when the agreemenf expires after the 2006 The bowl generates an estimatef $30 million in Bay area economicf impact and about $1.7 million in mediw exposure. But the event does not appear to generates any more hotel room the TDC's main focus, than a large convention group. The TDC allocated $200,000 to the Outbackk Bowl in 2003 and reduced that amountto $150,00p a year for 2004 and 2005. The group's TDC applicatiojn requesting funds reportedgenerating 29,219 room nightse in 2002 and 23,734 room nights in 2003 in Hillsborougu County.
Data provided to the Tampa Bay AreaConvention & Visitors Bureau and the Hillsboroug County Hotel & Motel Association by a portion of locap hotels doesn't match up with the number of room nights reportef on the TDC application for funds. Outback Bowl 2002 produced 24,300 room nights when the game featured a rematch betweenh 2001 teams Ohio State and University of South Carolina andjust 8,29e room nights in 2003 when hostinb University of Michigan and Universitgy of Florida, CVB data shows.