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Organizers May Seek More Tax Breaks For '18 Super Bowl In Minneapolis

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton and other state officials yesterday said that they will "probably ask the Legislature for more tax breaks to sweeten the 2018 Super Bowl for fans now that the NFL has awarded the big game to Minneapolis," according to Steve Karnowski of the AP. Dayton said that the state has "not promised any public money apart from a sales tax exemption for Super Bowl tickets that remains on the books" from when Minnesota hosted it in '92. Dayton said, "There's no other commitment, explicit or implicit, and that's where it stands." But Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority Chair Michele Kelm-Helgen said that the organizers will "sit down with NFL officials to discuss their needs." She added that they likely will "ask the Legislature next year for sales tax exemptions for tickets to some of the other festivities such as the NFL Experience exhibition ... and ask private donors to cover the rest." The NFL "requires hosts to exempt Super Bowl players from state income taxes," but Kelm-Helgen said Dayton and legislative leaders "weren't comfortable" with supporting that. So she said that the local corporate community "will foot that bill." Meanwhile, Saint Paul Festival & Heritage Foundation President & CEO Rosanne Bump said that officials with the St. Paul Winter Carnival told the bid committee they would "consider building an ice palace that could do double-duty as a Super Bowl attraction." The '18 Winter Carnival is "currently scheduled to end on Super Bowl Sunday." The last time the Winter Carnival "built an ice palace" was in '04 when St. Paul hosted the NHL All-Star Game. A Super Bowl ice palace would be a "natural backdrop for TV live shots," and organizers said that they "used it as a selling point with the NFL and spoke as if it's already a done deal" (AP, 5/21). In St. Paul, Doug Beldon notes bid committee co-Chair Marilyn Carlson Nelson originally had said that the bid proposal would "be released publicly after the NFL owners' vote Tuesday," but lawyers for Meet Minneapolis and the MSFA later said that the data was "nonpublic and would not be released" until after the '18 Super Bowl is played (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 5/22).

REASONS TO CELEBRATE: In Minneapolis, Rochelle Olson notes a "party for more than 100,000 guests leaves little time to waste," even if the game is "more than three years away." The bid committee yesterday "took a pause for public" celebration with Dayton, a moment that was about "congratulations and recuperation rather than preparation." Asked what the next step is, Carlson Nelson jokingly said, "A nap." U.S. Bancorp CEO Richard Davis, who also co-chairs the committee, said that the next step is for the group to "become the host committee and to add members." But plans "beyond that are not developed." St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman said that the city's offerings "could include a program at the Palace Theater," which recently won $5M in "state bonding for renovations, and a concert at the Xcel Energy Center" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 5/22). Also in Minneapolis, Sid Hartman writes the state "didn’t actually buy the Super Bowl, but organizers offered concessions that a bankrupt city such as New Orleans couldn’t match." Vikings VP/Public Affairs & Stadium Development Lester Bagley admitted that the Vikings were “'a major underdog going in,' but that new stadium and other non-money venues helped get the vote." He added that the "finances that New Orleans couldn't match were a factor." Bagley said, "One of our strengths is the corporate leadership. We have 19 Fortune 500 companies in Minnesota. New Orleans can’t come close to that. " Asked if being awarded the Super Bowl would "quiet some of the stadium naysayers," Bagley said, “Well, they won’t listen anyway" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 5/22). ESPN's Michael Smith said, "We've got to stop with this 'it's too cold' stuff because last year your argument was you didn't want to see the game played in inclement weather or in poor conditions." He added, "They'll be playing in a dome, so why not?" ("Numbers Never Lie," ESPN, 5/21).

WHERE THERE'S A WILF, THERE'S A WAY: ESPN.com's Ben Goessling wrote the celebration by the bid committee was "spontaneously raucous, in the way that only a celebration of the end of a long wait can be." This "must have been the first time in a while where it was purely, unequivocally good for the Wilf family to be the owners of the Vikings." The Wilfs following the vote "weren't seen as carpetbaggers." They were the "patient, steady hands who bought the Vikings" in '05, "never threatened to move the team during a long legislative battle over a new stadium and ultimately helped forge the partnership" on the $1B stadium. However "unscrupulous the Wilfs' business dealings might make them seem in the eyes of Minnesotans, it's tough to argue they haven't been good owners since they bought the team from Red McCombs" (ESPN.com, 5/21). In St. Paul, Charley Walters noted co-Owners Mark and Zygi Wilf for several months prior to the vote "lobbied other NFL owners for their votes." Walters: "Conversely, word is that there was virtually no lobbying by ownership of the Saints and Colts" (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 5/22). Bagley said, "We knew from talking to the owners and talking to (commissioner) Roger Goodell and talking to the leadership of the NFL that the weather was not going to be an issue. They were not going to make a decision based on weather. So we just said, 'Let's embrace it and let's show them what we have to offer.' We do winter well" (FOXSPORTSNORTH.com, 5/21).

YEAH, I'M THE TAXMAN: In Cincinnati, Paul Dehner Jr. wrote the NFL "didn't become the most powerful sports entity around by missing opportunities to grow the enormity of the game," and the league "spoke clearly again Tuesday when it voted for Minneapolis" to host Super Bowl LII. New Orleans "could have hosted the Super Bowl for the 11th time," and it "would have been fantastic." But picking Minnesota "rewards the taxpayers." Dehner: "Right, wrong or indifferent in the big picture, it's the exact message the league wants to send." Maybe when PBS "becomes outdated and if another stadium were built and it had a roof and the league opened its mind a bit regarding location it would be possible, but more than likely cities like Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Cleveland should forget about it" (CINCINNATI.com, 5/21).

NOT BIGGER THAN THE PROCESS: In Indianapolis, Stephen Holder notes the selection of Minneapolis over New Orleans was "a bit of a stunner, but Indianapolis was never seen as a frontrunner." Colts Owner Jim Irsay's arrest was "not among the deciding factors" in Indianapolis not getting the game. Despite the "conventional wisdom, his arrest in March for alleged DUI and drug possession had little, if any, influence on the outcome of this vote." This is "not meant to minimize Irsay's problems," but the process of bidding for a Super Bowl is "much bigger than the owner of any of the bid cities" (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 5/22). Also in Indianapolis, Anthony Schoettle notes NFL Senior VP/Events & Entertainment Frank Supovitz "came into the Indianapolis bid committee’s war room" shortly after the vote Tuesday and seemed "extra effusive in his praise of Indiana Sports Corp. President Allison Melangton and the rest of the Indy bid team." It was "almost like he was begging Indy officials to bid again." Without Indianapolis, there is "no Super Bowl Boulevard, now a mandate for any host city." And "no Super Bowl social media command center, another NFL mandate." The city also "set the standard for merchandise sales at the NFL Experience." Irsay said that when city and state officials are "ready to make another Super Bowl bid, he’s ready to lead the charge." But Supovitz and other NFL officials "must know this; though Indiana often gets rapped for being a bunch of country bumpkins with an uncommon sense of hospitality, Hoosiers are not fools." They have a "logical fiscal sensibility" (IBJ.com, 5/21).

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