The Greater Rome Convention and Visitors Bureau is estimating that the 2012 NAIA National Championship football game between Morningside College (Iowa) and Marian University (Indiana) generated approximately $1.1 million for the local economy of Floyd County.

Marian defeated Morningside 30-27 in an overtime thriller  at that game on Dec. 13.

The economic impact numbers are down slightly from previous years, a fact that GRCVB Director Lisa Smith attributes to the weekday scheduling of the game to accommodate the CBS national broadcast.

Morningside has a student population of 1,200, and Marian 2,200, and both were well represented in Rome in spite of the fact that the game was played on a weeknight for the first time. Rome was also a closer drive for many of the parents and other fans of the two colleges.

The GRCVB estimated that more than 2,000 out-of-town visitors traveled into Rome for the game.

During the past five years, the NAIA national football championship has pumped well more than $6 million into the local economy. Rome and Floyd County will host the NAIA title game again next December, but the event’s future beyond that is uncertain.

Trion Highschool's competition cheerleaders were recognized between the third  and fourth quarters at that game for their third state competition win.