EAST RUTHERFORD — The Super Bowl apparently will come at a super price.

At $70 million — that’s the anticipated price tag organizers are now expecting to raise in support of the Feb. 2 championship game at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey — it will be the most expensive Super Bowl ever played, said National Football League officials.

The New York/New Jersey Super Bowl Host Committee, responsible for putting together one of the biggest sports events of the year, has already spent $11.4 million since the group was organized in 2010 — and that doesn’t include what it incurred this year — according to an examination of its financial filings with the Internal Revenue Service.

"Most of our expenses will be recognized as the game gets closer," said committee spokeswoman Alice McGillion.

In its most recent tax filing, obtained by The Star-Ledger, the committee reported that its top executives were paid more than $2.3 million last year. Among them were Alfred Kelly Jr., the former president of American Express recruited to take on the job as host committee president and CEO, who was paid $640,000. Mark Bingham, the committee’s executive vice president of sales, was paid $431,750. Richard Petriccione, the former athletic director of Iona College who now serves as the committee’s senior vice president of philanthropy, received $310,000. Five others were paid $150,000 or more.

The committee reported it also paid out $525,609 in consulting fees, another $331,363 in legal expenses and spent $405,795 on advertising and promotion — all more than a year before the kickoff of a game that will match up two teams still to be determined.

Established as a non-profit organization, the New York/New Jersey Super Bowl host committee is exempt from taxes, but must publicly disclose a detailed accounting of its revenues and expenses every year, including how much money it collected, what it paid its top employees and contractors, who served on its board, and what was spent on lobbying. The committee provided The Star-Ledger with a copy of its latest return, known as a Form 990, after the newspaper requested it, as required under IRS regulations.

The 2012 return, filed on Nov. 13, does not account for any of the committee’s activity this year, but it reported sponsorship revenues of $7.2 million last year, and recorded more than $52.8 million in deferred revenue yet to be collected.

Logo of the NY/NJ Super Bowl Host Committee, which is responsible for organizing the upcoming championship game at MetLife Stadium

The host committee has 29 sponsors and 11 partners playing a supporting role in the game, including companies such as Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Budweiser, Public Service Electric & Gas., Visa and Snickers. The committee would not disclose what they paid to become part of the event, but said most receive tickets, and in some cases, stadium suites.

A spokeswoman for PSE&G said the state’s largest utility saw its sponsorship as a way of supporting economic development in New Jersey, and said the expenses would be paid by shareholders, not customers.

Empire State Development, the New York business aid agency, last month gave the committee $5 million, earmarked for New York events.

Host committee officials noted there was never any question that putting on the Super Bowl in the shadow of New York City was not going to be cheap.

"This region is expensive, and this game is the first of its kind — the first game hosted by two states and two teams, and to take place in an open-air venue in a cold-weather city," remarked McGillion.

She said the committee knew it was going to be faced with costs "which from the beginning we have said would be very high."

The host committee — co-chaired by Jets owner Robert "Woody" Johnson and Jonathan Tisch, one of the owners of the Giants — is essentially the master planning group for the 2014 Super Bowl. Taking on such roles as event coordinator, logistics and transportation organizer, promoter and cheerleader, the committee has the job of fulfilling the promises made to the NFL and its sponsors when the Super Bowl was awarded to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford.

Earlier this year, it launched a traveling football roadshow called "Join The Huddle," a trailer that has been touring the region with a replica locker room and the Vince Lombardi Trophy that will be given to the winner of February’s game.

It also has the task of mobilizing volunteers for game day for hospitality duties, including airport greeters to help out-of-town visitors. And it must set up venues and events for Super Bowl week, stretching from Midtown Manhattan — where a 10-block stretch of Broadway will become "Super Bowl Boulevard," with a 180-foot toboggan course — to downtown Newark, which is hosting media day at the Prudential Center.

According to McGillion, the full scope of activities by the host committee will cost $70 million.

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said there is no set price for any Super Bowl. But this game, he acknowledged, will be the most expensive ever.

"Every host community is different. Every community is different," he said. "And New York-New Jersey is a lot different than New Orleans or Indianapolis or North Texas or Florida."

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