Louisville, Kentucky, ultimately was unable to saddle up the Sundance Film Festival, but not from lack of trying.The city, famed as the host of the Kentucky Derby, recently released details about the unsuccessful attempt to attract Sundance. The documentation shows Louisville offered an incentive package that soared into the tens of millions of dollars.Louisville last summer was one of six places that advanced in Sundance’s selection process. It was dropped from consideration in September, as festival organizers further narrowed the field to a combined effort by Park City and Salt Lake City; Boulder, Colorado; and Cincinnati, Ohio. A decision is expected in late winter or early spring.The documentation released by Louisville officials offers an intriguing look at the bid by one of the former competitors of the Park City-Salt Lake City effort.According to the materials released by Louisville, the minimum incentive offered to Sundance was pegged at $73.5 million. The details included:An upfront payment of $25 million. Annual payments of a minimum of $5 million in years two through 10 of an agreement. An annual contribution of $250,000 from a storyteller’s fund. An annual film award of $100,000 from the Louisville government.Louisville also offered to assist in outreach to philanthropic organizations and the corporate community there.The upfront $25 million payment was poised to be split between Louisville and the commonwealth government in Kentucky, with the commonwealth’s portion set at $20 million. The $5 million from Louisville was to be split between a tourism group and the metro government. The $20 million from the commonwealth was to be sought from the General Assembly.The documentation says the bid for Sundance was “strongly supported by” the governor and top legislators.The minimum $5 million annual payments were to be funded through a variety of sources, including “an annual refund to Sundance that represents a percentage of the new spend and resulting new state and local sales, income/occupational taxes and any other ancillary taxes generated by the festival,” the documentation says.Media outlets in Kentucky earlier in October covered the incentive package.“I am incredibly proud of our proposal that resulted in Louisville being a finalist to be the new home of the Sundance Film Festival. Our team saw an opportunity for an unprecedented economic development driver for our city and state. The proposal we put together was a true partnership, including the governor, state Legislature, Metro Council, private and non-profit sectors,” the mayor of Louisville, Craig Greenberg, said in a prepared statement as the details of the bid were released.People across Park City are monitoring the high-profile Sundance selection process with the future of the community’s most lucrative special event at stake. City Hall and Sundance have an agreement covering festivals through 2026, and the events in 2025 and 2026 are planned as normal. Any relocation or re-imagining of the operations of the festival would begin with the 2027 event.The bid involving Park City and Salt Lake City calls for the capital city playing a broader role in the festival. Sundance traditionally is centered in Park City with a secondary presence in Salt Lake City.The bid in Park City and Salt Lake City has not publicly released information as detailed as the Louisville documentation. City Hall in June declined to comment regarding details such as the total dollar value of the proposal, the parties that contributed to the figure, and the mechanism to fund the proposal to Sundance.Park City on Monday indicated a competitive process is ongoing and again declined to provide details about the financial package crafted as part of the bid.The post Louisville was not horsing around in its Sundance bid, offering tens of millions of dollars in incentives appeared first on Park Record.