Three decades of sports subsidies. Officials promised billions in economic returns. The state’s own auditor says it cannot determine whether any of it worked.
Since 1994, Texas has hosted five Super Bowls, the FIFA World Cup, Formula One races for nearly a decade, and dozens of college championships and all-star games. Public money flows out before every event. Independent verification of what came back almost never follows.
In 2015, the Texas State Auditor reviewed seven major events funded through the state’s Major Events Trust Fund. It had disbursed $206.6 million. The finding about what taxpayers received in return was stark.
The program was renamed the Major Events Reimbursement Program and continued. The disbursements grew larger. The verification problem was never fixed. The chart below shows documented public costs for Texas events where primary-source records exist.
| Year | Event | Location | Public Cost | Return Projected | Actual Reported | Tax Revenue Verified | Verdict |
|---|
Sources: Texas State Auditor’s Office (SAO 16-001, 2015), city council records, official federal grant announcements, post-event economic impact studies, investigative reporting (KRGV, Houston Chronicle, Texas Tribune, CBS Texas, ABC13). “Verified” = independent government audit or primary document. “Reported” = official or host-commissioned claim. Highlighted rows are the three case studies below. Green rows are upcoming 2026 events.
These are the events where public records are strong enough to compare what officials projected against what was actually reported — and what happened when someone tried to reconcile the two.
The North Texas Super Bowl Organizing Committee projected $611.7 million in economic impact. The state fully disbursed $31.15 million — including $22.55 million directly to the organizing committee.
Dallas, Fort Worth, Irving, and Arlington all reported disappointing sales-tax results in the months after the game. No host city produced an audited public return-on-investment figure.
Houston’s host committee ran on a $63.6 million budget — 42 percent public money. A pre-event consulting study projected $450 million in gross spending and $44.8 million in net state and local tax receipts. Post-event, the committee announced $347 million in “incremental new spending.”
No audited tax-return figure was ever produced. The spending claim was never independently reconciled against total public costs.
The State Auditor documented $29.33M (2012), $29.03M (2013), and $28.56M approved for 2014 in METF disbursements. A promoter-commissioned study claimed $507 million in regional impact for 2013 alone.
In 2018, COTA missed a compliance deadline and received $0. In all other years, disbursements were paid and impact was claimed. Year-by-year verified returns were never published.
Texas’s Major Events Reimbursement Program pays out based on pre-event estimates of how much tax revenue an event will generate. After the event, law requires an economic-impact study. The State Auditor found these studies structurally cannot answer the question the program is built around.
The same audit found that indirect and “induced” multiplier effects made up about 40 percent of the state share for the seven events reviewed — and that the statute did not clearly settle whether those multiplied effects should be counted toward the reimbursement ceiling. They were counted anyway.
Houston and Arlington will host FIFA World Cup matches in summer 2026. Combined documented public costs are already above $200 million — in security grants, transit funding, stadium upgrades, and expected MERP reimbursements. The projections exceed anything Texas has announced before.
There is a structural reason to be skeptical that Texas will see those returns. FIFA’s contract terms give the organization control over ticket sales, concessions, merchandise, and parking — the revenue streams host cities typically count on to offset costs. Texas provides the infrastructure, the security, and the venue upgrades. FIFA keeps the gate.
After the games, Texas will conduct economic-impact studies. The State Auditor’s 2015 warning about those studies will still be in effect. The mechanism for verification will be the same one that couldn’t tell you whether Super Bowl LI broke even.
Texas public records law gives every resident the right to request MERP applications, event-support contracts, attendance certifications, post-event economic impact studies, and itemized disbursement records. These are the documents that can close the gap between what officials claim and what taxpayers can actually verify.