Cherrr-Ching: Super Bowl XLIX Financial Report

     The amount of money that goes into the Super Bowl is staggering. With well over 100+ million viewers watching the amount of money generated during the game is mind-boggling. To give somewhat of a picture as to what I mean, there are more people who watch the super bowl in the US than those who voted for their president. With the following figures, we will be able to see where the money is generated from and what the money is used for.

• $600,000,000 - the estimated financial impact on the host city's local economy
• $4,500,000 - the amount necessary for a 30 second commercial spot during Super bowl airing
• $8,000,000,000 - the amount of money LEGALLY wagered during the Super Bowl (that's not even counting the illegal gambling)
• $3,950 - the average amount it would cost for one super bowl ticket (some tickets cost as much as $25,000
• $165,000 - the amount paid to each player on the winning team. This amount does not include incentives the players may have in their contracts.  

     Over time, these numbers have continued to rise, and with the potential spread to an international market, I can only see these numbers getting bigger as the NFL continues to expand to other markets. 

For the host city, it would seem that the amount necessary for one game would put many cities into a financial bind. It almost reminds me of how the World Cup is set up: once the host city is chosen, it is up to the city/country in which the city is located to come up with the money necessary to build venues for the players and the fans. In Brazil during the last World Cup, there was much controversy over the amount of money being used to build these huge stadiums that were only going to be used once.  The people living in the areas where the stadiums were being built felt short changed, leading to danger and violence. Granted, the super bowl is much different in the fact that the stadiums are already built and are used on a daily basis, but similar in the amount of money necessary to provide such a big sporting event.  

References

Erb, Kelly P. "Salaries, Ads & Security: What's The Real Cost Of Super Bowl XLIX?" Forbes. Forbes Magazine, n.d. Web. 01 Feb. 2015.