ESPN ekes out narrow victory as Dallas City Council approves subsidy for Cotton Bowl game

It took seven months, and countless speeches, but on Wednesday the Dallas City Council approved giving $300,000 to ESPN for a college-football bowl game to be played at Fair Park the day after Christmas.

Until last month, that game was known as the Heart of Dallas Bowl, which replaced the Cotton Bowl in 2011 after that game moved from its namesake stadium in South Dallas to AT&T Stadium in Arlington. The annual tussle, featuring teams from Conference USA, Big Ten and Big 12, was rebranded in August as the First Responder Bowl, with water-cleanup company SERVPRO serving as the title sponsor.

Wednesday's vote was razor-thin: 8-6 in favor of the taxpayer subsidy, which will be doled out over the next two years and comes out of the Park and Recreation Department's annual budget. Ever since March, the discussion surrounding this subsidy has been contentious, a vote in favor always in doubt.

Several council members believe it to be nothing more than "corporate welfare," a phrase used every time the subject came to the horseshoe. On Wednesday, West Dallas' council member Omar Narvaez used the epithet to try to convince his colleagues to vote against it.

Read more: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/dallas-city-council/2018/09/12/espn-ekes-narrow-victory-dallas-city-council-approves-subsidy-cotton-bowl-game

After looking at this picture, I know that more people are attending football games for my alma mater which is a NCAA Division III school than are going to the Heart of Dallas Bowl.

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