The Patriots weren't the only one's that went home with a win last Sunday, this years Super Bowl committee projected an economic impact of nearly $500 million. Not is the Super Bowl the most watched television event of the year with 118.5 million views, it is also the most talked about on social media with 28.4 million tweets during the broadcast. Beyond this, there are several outrageous facts about the Super Bowl that leave one wondering how America became obsessed with such a sport.
Perhaps the most shocking fact is that this year's Super Bowl ticket price reached $6459.21 Sunday evening, an 114 percent increase from last year's game. For those who couldn't make it to the game, American's spent nearly $14.3 billion on new TVs, athletic gear, decorations and game day food. Those watching it at home also got to enjoy the $4.5 million 30 second ads sponsored by a variety of companies -- many of whom opted to go for an emotional ad this year. Since 2010, Anheuser-Bush has spent $152 million on advertising in the Super Bowl. However, recent study done at Stanford University suggest Super Bowl ads are starting to get too costly to for how inefficient they are at driving sales.
Not only is Super Bowl the most watched event of the year, it's the most gambled upon. It was estimated this year nearly $3.8 billion bets were estimated to have taken place this weekend. This is partially due to the recent popularity of prop bets, such as placing bets on things such as the coin toss or length of the National Anthem.
While the Super Bowl is a lot of glam and glitz, it can leave behind a legacy of bankruptcy for it's hosting city. While the camaraderie, and the power of sport to bring people together really highlight some of the positive of sport, there is a lot of hidden "dark" side surrounding the Super Bowl. For starters, the National Football League makes nearly all the revenue from the Super Bowl, nearly without having to spend a time or lift a finger. Glendale, however was responsible for numerous outlandish expenses as requested by the NFL to its host cities. For example, golf courses and bowling ally's must be made available, along with a number of limos no older than 5 years, and signifiant control of billboards, airspace along with the ability to request make adjustments to the stadium at the cities expense. The National FootBall League goes on with a nearly 150 page document expressing the requirements host cities must abide by in order to even place a bid for the Super Bowl.
With the amount of money and revenue the NFL is making, along with other recent issues in the league ( domestic violence, concussions, etc), it is sometimes difficult to see how such a controversial organization has so much power in the media. However, when one is at a Super Bowl party, it's hard not to get involved in all the fun, especially when Missy Elliot's involved.
References:
Smith, Chris. (31 January 2015). The Money Behind Super Bowl XLIV. Retrieved February 4, 2015, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/chrissmith/2015/01/31/the-money-behind-super-bowl-xlix/2/
It is really interesting to hear that the cost of the commercials does not totally match the profit to come from the commercials. I have heard that that is the reason Doritos has regular people make commercials and submit them. That way, Doritos pays the ridiculous amount to get the commercial aired but they pay basically nothing in terms of production costs. Do you think that other companies will follow suit or is there still an arms race to make the best commercial for the Super Bowl?
ReplyDelete-Craig Davis
Nice job analyzing the "dark-side" to this mega-event. It rarely ends in benefits for anyone but the NFL and it's affiliates.
ReplyDelete~Brittainy