REVEALED: How much council will sponsor for Titans match

THE Toowoomba Regional Council had to pull money from four different community grant funds to offer its sponsorship of the upcoming Gold Coast Titans NRL match.

The Toowoomba Regional Council will spend up to $40,000 in sponsorship on the Titans-Dragons NRL match.

THE Toowoomba Regional Council had to pull money from four different community grant funds to offer its $40,000 sponsorship of the upcoming Gold Coast Titans NRL match.

The commitment, approved by the council at committee meetings today, prompted calls for more funding into sports tourism after several upcoming events cleaned out the relevant money.

Money will come from four grants, including Event Support ($23,000), Community Support ($10,000), Environment ($5000) and Sports Tourism ($2000).

Mayor Paul Antonio said he would like to see the sports tourism grant expanded from its current size of $50,000, especially since other funds were struggling to find enough applicants.

"It is my personal view that we need to give consideration to promoting this region through sport and it doesn't necessarily fit into one particular category," he said.

"It is almost dropping over to economic development and promotion of this region."

The Titans, who play the St George-Illawarra Dragons on March 25, were forced to take two of their home matches on the road because of the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.

While estimates in December put the value of that game at upwards of $1 million, Cr Mike Williams questioned the lack of quantifiable economic benefits in the report handed down by Sports Tourism Officer Andrew Allpass.

"Has anybody done the maths and found this is what the benefit to the region is of us bringing this game here?" he asked the chamber.

Mr Allpass said the event had been heavily supported by Tourism and Events Queensland, and to host an NRL match alone would cost the council upwards of $180,000.

Cr Nancy Sommerfield backed the call from Cr Antonio, saying sports tourism deserved a review in the upcoming budget.

"I can tell you I'm very excited for sporting tourism - it has been growing over the years and as we continue to grow it, there is opportunity for us to grow the sporting grant side of things," she said.

"I would like to see us review our budget in relation to sports tourism."

The Titans play a trial match in Toowoomba this weekend against the Brisbane Broncos before its regular-round fixture.

Originally published as REVEALED: How much council will sponsor for Titans match