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Padding Required: Assessing the Economic Impact of the Super Bowl

Author

Listed:
  • Victor Matheson

    (Department of Economics, College of the Holy Cross)

  • Robert Baade

    (Department of Economics and Business, Lake Forest College)

Abstract

Civic boosters generally have estimated the Super Bowl to have an impact of $300 to $400 million on a host city’s economy. The National Football League has used the promise of an economic windfall to convince skeptical cities that investments in new stadiums for their teams in exchange for the right to host the event makes economic sense. Evidence from host cities from 1970-2001 indicates the Super Bowl contributes approximately one-quarter of what the boosters have promised and that the game could not have contributed by any reasonable standard of statistical significance, more than $300 million to host economies.

Suggested Citation

  • Victor Matheson & Robert Baade, 2004. "Padding Required: Assessing the Economic Impact of the Super Bowl," Working Papers 0403, College of the Holy Cross, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hcx:wpaper:0403
    as

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    File URL: https://hcapps.holycross.edu/hcs/RePEc/hcx/HC0403-Matheson-Baade_Padding.pdf
    File Function: Revised version, 2004
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John Siegfried & Andrew Zimbalist, 2002. "A Note on the Local Economic Impact of Sports Expenditures," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 3(4), pages 361-366, November.
    2. Robert Baade & Victor Matheson, 1999. "An assessment of the economic impact of the american football championship, the Superbowl, on host communities," IASE Conference Papers 9903, International Association of Sports Economists.
    3. Dennis Coates & Brad R. Humphreys, 2002. "The Economic Impact of Postseason Play in Professional Sports," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 3(3), pages 291-299, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. A not so Super Bowl for NOLA
      by Victor Matheson in The Sports Economist on 2013-02-04 21:34:34

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    Cited by:

    1. Dennis Coates & Craig A. Depken, II, 2008. "Do College Football Games Pay for Themselves? The Impact of College Football Games on Local Sales Tax Revenue," Working Papers 0802, International Association of Sports Economists;North American Association of Sports Economists.
    2. Christian Dragin-Jensen, 2016. "Mutual Image Impacts of Events and Host Destinations: What We Know From Prior Research," Working Papers 122/16, University of Southern Denmark, Department of Sociology, Environmental and Business Economics.
    3. Robert Baade & Robert Baumann & Victor Matheson, 2011. "Big Men on Campus: Estimating the Economic Impact of College Sports on Local Economies," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(3), pages 371-380.
    4. Robert W. Baumann & Victor A. Matheson, 2017. "Many happy returns? The Pro-Bowl, mega-events, and tourism in Hawaii," Tourism Economics, , vol. 23(4), pages 788-802, June.
    5. Robert A. Baade & Victor A. Matheson, 2012. "An Evaluation of the Economic Impact of National Football League Mega-Events," Sports Economics, Management, and Policy, in: Kevin G. Quinn (ed.), The Economics of the National Football League, edition 127, chapter 0, pages 243-258, Springer.
    6. Dennis Coates & Craig A. Depken, II, 2006. "Mega-Events: Is the Texas-Baylor game to Waco what the Super Bowl is to Houston?," Working Papers 0606, International Association of Sports Economists;North American Association of Sports Economists.
    7. Robert W. Baumann & Victor A. Matheson & Chihiro Muroi, 2009. "Bowling in Hawaii," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 10(1), pages 107-123, February.
    8. Robert Baade & Robert Baumann & Victor Matheson, 2007. "Down, Set, Hike: The Economic Impact of College Football Games on Local Economies," Working Papers 0702, College of the Holy Cross, Department of Economics.
    9. Victor Matheson, 2009. "Economics of the Super Bowl," Working Papers 0914, College of the Holy Cross, Department of Economics.
    10. Elmer Sterken, 2012. "Economic Impact of Organizing Large Sporting Events," Chapters, in: Wolfgang Maennig & Andrew Zimbalist (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Mega Sporting Events, chapter 20, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    11. Robert Baumann & Victor Matheson & Chihiro Muroi, 2008. "Bowling in Hawaii: Examining the Effectiveness of Sports-Based Tourism Strategies," Working Papers 0808, College of the Holy Cross, Department of Economics.
    12. Dennis Coates & Victor Matheson, 2011. "Mega-events and housing costs: raising the rent while raising the roof?," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 46(1), pages 119-137, February.
    13. Robert A Baade & Robert Baumann & Victor A Matheson, 2009. "Rejecting “Conventional” Wisdom: Estimating the Economic Impact of National Political Conventions," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 35(4), pages 520-530.
    14. Baade, Robert A. & Matheson, Victor A., 2012. "Professional sports, hurricane Katrina, and the economic redevelopment of New Orleans," Edition HWWI: Chapters, in: Büch, Martin-Peter & Maennig, Wolfgang & Schulke, Hans-Jürgen (ed.), Zur Ökonomik von Spitzenleistungen im internationalen Sport, volume 3, pages 123-146, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI).
    15. Robert Baade & Victor Matheson, 2007. "NFL Governance and the Fate of the New Orleans Saints: Some Observations," Working Papers 0703, College of the Holy Cross, Department of Economics.
    16. Roberto Gásquez & Vicente Royuela, 2014. "Is Football an Indicator of Development at the International Level?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 117(3), pages 827-848, July.
    17. Kim, Woosoon & Walker, Matthew, 2012. "Measuring the social impacts associated with Super Bowl XLIII: Preliminary development of a psychic income scale," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 91-108.
    18. Michael C. Davis & Christian M. End, 2011. "Team Success, Productivity and Economic Impact," Chapters, in: Plácido Rodríguez & Stefan Késenne & Brad R. Humphreys (ed.), The Economics of Sport, Health and Happiness, chapter 7, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    19. Victor A. Matheson & Robert A. Baade, 2004. "Race and Riots: A Note on the Economic Impact of the Rodney King Riots," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 41(13), pages 2691-2696, December.
    20. Dennis Coates & Victor Matheson, 2011. "Mega-events and housing costs: raising the rent while raising the roof?," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 46(1), pages 119-137, February.
    21. Charles Stoecker & Nicholas J. Sanders & Alan Barreca, 2015. "Success is Something to Sneeze at: Influenza Mortality in Regions that Send Teams to the Super Bowl," Working Papers 1501, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    22. Robert A. Baade & Robert W. Baumann & Victor A. Matheson, 2008. "Assessing the Economic Impact of College Football Games on Local Economies," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 9(6), pages 628-643, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    football; impact analysis; Super Bowl; sports; mega-event;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism
    • R53 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - Public Facility Location Analysis; Public Investment and Capital Stock

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