ABSTRACT
A joint study conducted by the National Football League (NFL) and the Sport Management Research Institute (SMRI) of Westin, Florida estimated an economic impact of $393 million from Super Bowl XXXIII on the South Florida economy (NFL, 1999b). If those numbers are accurate, “Super” is an apt adjective for the event. Only the Summer Olympic Games can seriously be thought to generate an impact of such magnitude for a short-term sporting event. Reasons for skepticism, however, abound, and one may well need look no further than the NFL's motivation for making such lofty claims. Can a study either commissioned or performed by the NFL be unbiased if the NFL has used the promise of a future Super Bowl as an enticement for cities to build new facilities? Modern sports stadiums generally receive some form of public funding, and the NFL, at least indirectly, has rationalized public financial support on the grounds that the economic impact from a single Super Bowl approximates the cost of building a new stadium. Coincidence? The purpose of this study is to estimate the economic impact of Super Bowls from 1970 through 2001. The results indicate that the economic impact of the Super Bowl is likely on average one-quarter or less the magnitude of the most recent NFL estimates.
