In case you were wondering, 5,774 hotel rooms in Northwest Arkansas were occupied by football game attendees during 2012, and 176,957 meals were purchased in area restaurants by those attendees.
Such numbers are from a study conducted by the University of Arkansas that paints a very positive picture of the economic impact of the university’s athletic program. The study did not mention how many of those 2012 football-related meals were swallowed with a bitter pill of disappointment.
The study, conducted by the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Arkansas, estimates the annual economic impact of Razorback athletics to be $153.6 million. The program also is estimated to generate an additional $239.7 million impact from planned construction activity.
Conducted during the 2011-12 academic year, the study analyzed three areas categories of Razorback Athletics – athletic department operations, visitor spending related to on-campus sporting events, and construction spending. The operations and visitor spending provide an annual economic impact while construction expenditures results in one-time economic impact, noted the study. Click here to read the full story from our partners at TheCityWire.com.
