The Texas Tribune posted an article by Aman Batheja yesterday detailing how Texas taxpayer money is being used to bring WrestleMania 32 to Dallas on April 3rd. The state has an “Events Trust Fund” designed to “help its communities offset the costs of hosting sporting and non-athletic events. To qualify for these funds, an event must be competitively bid, and the community must be competing with cities outside Texas for the right to host it.” The idea is that the economic impact of the events would offset what the state spends.
In the article, Governor Greg Abbott is called out for signing off on $2.7 million for WrestleMania last week. Why exactly It was the 20th event he’s approved since September, and he had said during his campaign last year that he wanted the state government “out of the business of picking winners and losers.” The 20 events approved so far total $26 million in money awarded from the Events Trust Fund, with $19.5 million of that being for the Formula One race in Austin that took place on October 25th.
Marty MacInnis, the chief financial officer for the local Stadium Events Organizing Committee, told the Tribune that “It’s a massive event. They’ve got fan festivals. They’ve got golf tournaments. They’ve got rallies. It’s one of those things where people from all over the world will come to this. […] The trust fund played a part in the decision to try and bid for the event.” He added that the total amount of funding that WWE will get has not been worked out as of yet.
