Football championship game brings business to Frisco

Football's a lucrative business, and the city of Frisco knows that as well as anyone.

For the third consecutive year, the city of Frisco is hosting the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision title game in coordination with the Southland Conference and Hunt Sports Group.

The game, which is scheduled to kick off at noon on Jan. 5, will take place at FC Dallas Stadium and features Huntsville-based Sam Houston State taking on North Dakota State in a rematch of last year's title game. ESPN2 will televise the game.

A consultant hired by event organizers estimated that the game brought in about $4 million for local businesses two years ago, the game's first year in the city, and $5.8 million last year.

Marla Roe, executive director of the Frisco Convention and Visitors Bureau, said this year's game will likely have a similar or slightly larger economic impact compared to last year's.

"The event's grown each year, and it doesn't only impact Frisco -- it also impacts neighboring cities," she said. "Hotels are already sold out for the most part; there's a pretty limited availability left."

The fact that a Texas team is playing in the game again could be of benefit for local businesses, Roe said, as it will garner support from the local community.

This year's game is expected to draw a record crowd for a football game at FC Dallas Stadium. Last year's championship game set the current record with an attendance of 20,586.

"We're adding additional bleachers for the bands, which will open up more seats, and we'll also potentially be selling standing-room-only tickets," said Nick Shafer, vice president of stadium operations at FC Dallas Stadium. "We're expecting at least the same amount of fans as last year."

Shafer added that the NCAA is in charge of ticket sales, although he noted seats for the game have already been sold out. A limited number of standing room only tickets for the game will go on sale at 10 a.m. Thursday, however.

Tony Felker, president and chief executive of the Frisco Chamber of Commerce, said the past two years have shown fans are willing to spend time in the city, which helps local businesses.

"One of the main goals when we brought this game to Frisco was the opportunity to provide an event where people would be coming in multiple days from out of town," he said. "Having folks in here from out of town for two, three, four days is a huge economic boon for local businesses."

While a wide range of businesses benefit from the game, the companies impacted the most are retail and travel-related businesses such as hotels, restaurants, local stores and car rental companies.

Despite being the last year of the current deal between the NCAA and Team Frisco, the event's organizing committee, there's a strong probability the event will be returning to the city.

"It's not a secret that we've been working with the NCAA to hopefully extend this game here for numerous years to come -- we're hoping to finalize this in the near future," Felker said. "We're happy with the positive reviews we've gotten the past year years, and we love the fact that teams are buying tickets well in advance to come to the city. It's definitely growing each year."

An announcement from the NCAA regarding the game's future in Frisco is expected to come sometime this week.

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