Excitement and revenue builds for Super Bowl 52

World Today

The most-profitable professional sport in the United States ends its season Sunday. Super Bowl 52 will decide American football’s championship.

Viewers are expected to spend $15-billio on the game–either in person or at parties around the country. And the city where the game is played—Minneapolis, Minnesota—hopes to reap a windfall from the contest. CGTN’s Dan Williams tells us more.

A recent report by Forbes, showed the league’s operating profit hit a *record 101-Million dollars *per team, last season.

Welcome to a freezing cold Super Bowl weekend. As Minneapolis welcomes visitors from across the U.S for the National Football League’s showpiece event, the city is busy putting on a show.   And most locals appear determined to enjoy the spotlight.

“It’s great to have it in our home state,” said this woman. “We’re big fans of sports. Minnesota nice is a big tradition we always have. We love to host people. We love to share our cold, we love to share our food and learn about other people so we love people here.”

Local organizers have embraced the icy weather in their marketing campaign, promoting the event under the banner the “Bold North.”  Visitors are able to ski over a bridge in downtown, or zip line across the Mississippi.

If that doesn’t sound appealing, don’t worry–the Super Bowl experience offers a dazzling array of activities. All of these events are aimed at enhancing the excitement around Minneapolis Super Bowl weekend.

But the actual economic impact is difficult to determine. U.S. Bank Stadium, which is home to the Minnesota Vikings, cost more than a billion dollars. A report by the Super Bowl Host Committee suggests a large part of that will be paid back this weekend. And organizers are confident the event will have a lasting impact.

“We anticipate a four hundred million dollar impact to the region over the ten days,” said Michael Howard, the Commications Director of the Minnesota Super Bowl Host Committee. “A million people will be taking part in Super Bowl activities. We hope that the opportunity and spotlight, we hope we can really use that as a springboard forward for the region.”  

But many economists believe the financial impact on the area is overstated, claiming much of the revenue generated, such as inflated hotel prices, simply flows out of the state.

“Do they get an economic boost? Yes,” said Allen Sanderson in the Department of Economics at the University of Chicago. “Do they get an economic boost anywhere close to the magnitude that the National Football League or the Minneapolis chamber of commerce says? No. If you take the number that’s given–say $500 million dollars–if you take that number and move the decimal one place to the left, it is probably about right, which means fifty million, not five hundred million.”

Even if the sums don’t add up, there is another potential benefit–local pride–a view shared by Minnesota born Eagles defensive tackle Beau Allen.

“I think anytime you have a Super Bowl in town, the city it is in, becomes a major focus for the media people like you guys coming in,” said Allen. “Also it puts Minneapolis on the map for people who have never been here before, so it is definitely a good thing.”

In time, the taxpayers of Minnesota will decide whether the investment was worth it. But for now, there is a show to put on.