Howard Fischer
Capitol Media Services
“It is absolutely one important tool that we use to attract economic development to our state,” the governor said.
Gov. Katie Hobbs is defending the decision to spend more than $2 million in tax dollars to entertain business executives during the Super Bowl.
And Sandra Watson, director of her Arizona Commerce Authority, said she believes the expenditure will survive a review of its legality by Attorney General Kris Mayes.
Their comments Wednesday came as a study of the impact of the February event commissioned by the host committee says it created $1.3 billion in total economic impact for the state.
Owain Evans, a research professor at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, said a survey found there were more than 102,000 who came to the Phoenix area for the match-up between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles. And he said not all of them actually came to watch the game, with only about 60% of them having tickets.
But the multi-day festivities around the event also included a private CEO Forum put on by Watson’s agency. And a new report by the Auditor General’s Office pegged the cost of “social and entertainment events” at close to $2.1 million.
The biggest piece of that was $1.85 million for the Arizona Commerce Authority to be a sponsor of the Super Bowl. That netted 140 tickets to the Super Bowl itself, a VIP tailgate party and the “Super Bowl Experience” at the Phoenix Convention Center, which included everything from a 4-D immersive theater, and equipment room where fans can “suit up” and a post bowl “immersive celebration.”
