
Super Bowl? The big game’s economic impact will be smaller than advertised
The New York Daily News recently ran an article with this assertion about the Super Bowl: “As many as 400,000 fans are expected to descend on the Meadowlands for the Super Bowl.”
Perhaps. But if they do, 320,000 of them will spend the evening standing around in the swamp. MetLife Stadium holds a mere 80,000.
This is typical of the hype surrounding the Super Bowl. Also typical is the claim that the big game will bring more than $500 million into the regional economy.
Not even close. That’s the conclusion of a study titled “Super Bowl or Super Hyperbole?”co-authored by economist Victor Matheson. The study runs for 32 data-packed pages, but the conclusion is simply stated: “The evidence indicates that at best the Super Bowl contributes approximately one-quarter of what the NFL promises.”
When I called Matheson at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, he told me the NFL typically overestimates the value of the game to the local economy. As for those 400,000 fans, for example, “that’s beyond the capacity of the local hotels to host,” he said. “Most estimates are that about 100,000 people come to a city for the Super Bowl.” (Mulshine/Star-Ledger)
https://blog.nj.com/njv_paul_mulshine/2014/01/super_bowl_the_big_games_econo.html