NJ gives NFL super tax break for Super Bowl, and pays for security

[Jesus Malverde]

Call it an $8 million gift.

When New Jersey landed this year’s Super Bowl, it gave the National Football League a major tax break. The state agreed to suspend the sales tax on all tickets and parking for today’s big game — a gift that will cost the state $8 million in lost revenues, officials said.

And that’s not the only cost the state is picking up.

All the security and police presence needed for the game — including the estimated 700 New Jersey state troopers who will be patrolling in and around MetLife Stadium today — will also not cost the NFL a dime. The state said it is covering all of its public safety expenses for the game, which is expected to include hundreds of hours in overtime.

Officials say the cost of the game is worth it, pointing to the additional business and economic activity that will be generated by the game, including sales at local restaurants and bars, as well as increased hotel taxes. However, with an event straddling two states, and many fans staying across the river in New York, no one can yet calculate the economic impact on New Jersey of staging the Super Bowl in the Garden State.

http://www.nj.com/super-bowl/index.ssf/2014/02/nj_gave_nfl_8_million_tax_break_and_pass_on_security_costs_to_land_the_2014_super_bowl.html

[FarPoint]

1. How does this Super Bowl tax break compare to previous games?

Is this mega tax break traditional or unique?

[Jesus Malverde]

2. Seems the Rich NFL owners never will pay taxes and extort that concession out of local communities..

"One of the standard conditions that the NFL asks of all host communities for Super Bowls is to provide sales tax relief on the sale of tickets to the game and certain associated events as well as parking at those events," said Christopher Santarelli, a spokesman for the state Treasury Department. "New Jersey agreed to provide this tax relief to the NFL."

Brian McCarthy, an NFL spokesman, said there was nothing new about the request for sales tax relief.

"This has been part of a Super Bowl host committee bid package since the 1990s," he said.

Indeed, the bid specifications for the host committees that had been vying for the 2014 Super Bowl — Tampa, Miami and New York/New Jersey — made it clear that the NFL would not award the game to any site that did not give the league a pass on sales taxes. According to the bidding requirements, a 127-page document obtained by The Star-Ledger, the NFL spells out the requirement that all revenue on Super Bowl and Super Bowl-related event tickets "be exempt from sales, amusement, or entertainment taxes, and other surcharge obligations."

Other tax breaks
The tickets sold for tonight’s game carried a face value ranging from $500 all the way up to $2,500 for the club seats, according to a league spokesman. In addition, the NFL’s allotment of MetLife Stadium’s 218 luxury boxes (the league gets at least half of them, according to the bidding specs) sold for $400,000 each. Game-day parking, which was also exempted from the state sales tax, went for $150.

In addition, the league also required it not be subject to any state, county, city or other local taxes in connection with the game.

http://www.nj.com/super-bowl/index.ssf/2014/02/nj_gave_nfl_8_million_tax_break_and_pass_on_security_costs_to_land_the_2014_super_bowl.html

[jmowreader]

3. They'll get some of it back from the teams

NJ is one of the states that taxes out-of-state athletes.