In NPR’s Planet Money Friday Podcast, Associate Professor of Economics at the College of the Holy Cross Victor Matheson, asserts that hosting the Super Bowl does not actually boost the host city’s local economy by $300-500 million, as NFL estimates state.
“Any local Indianapolis folk go down to the events related to the Super bowl,” said Matheson, “They are spending money at the Super Bowl that would otherwise be spent elsewhere in the local economy, and so that’s just shifting money around. That’s not new money coming into the economy. That’s just money being spent on football and Super Bowl activities, rather than somewhere else.”
He also explained that although hotels are charging higher prices for rooms during Super Bowl weekend, that money is usually funneled back to corporate chain headquarters and does not benefit local workers or the local economy.
This "Holy Cross in the News" item is by Sara Bovat '14.
