Chief Financial Officer Brett Huebner is meeting with the media today to discuss an economic impact study recently conducted and completed by UT. Study showed that Tennessee athletics generated $618 million for Knox Co. last year with $448 million of that coming from visitor and fan spending. The study involved fiscal year 2014-15, so does not include numbers from this past football season which presumably were even higher.
Those numbers are way up from the last time a similar study was conducted and CFO Huebner indicated that was largely a result of improved attendance and a larger budget. He added that the increase could also be a reflection of a more exhaustive study that included extensive fan surveys. Those surveys revealed that the average fan spent more on the game day experience than was previously assumed and also that fans traveling from out of state often stayed longer, 4-5 days as opposed to 2-3 days, than thought. Obviously, that behavior has a large impact on total dollars spent.
Lastly, though not necessarily related to this study, Huebner indicated that there were no current discussions between UT and Knox Co. involving repealing the amusement tax.
Those numbers are way up from the last time a similar study was conducted and CFO Huebner indicated that was largely a result of improved attendance and a larger budget. He added that the increase could also be a reflection of a more exhaustive study that included extensive fan surveys. Those surveys revealed that the average fan spent more on the game day experience than was previously assumed and also that fans traveling from out of state often stayed longer, 4-5 days as opposed to 2-3 days, than thought. Obviously, that behavior has a large impact on total dollars spent.
Lastly, though not necessarily related to this study, Huebner indicated that there were no current discussions between UT and Knox Co. involving repealing the amusement tax.
