$uper Bowl $pending
February 4, 2019
This week I felt obliged to write about one of the largest televised events in the world, especially because Atlanta hosted the week-long party. It is tough to tell how much money the Super Bowl brought in for Atlanta, but experts believe the number is close to $2 billion. The teams who faced off are two of the most expensive franchises in the world. The Los Angeles Rams are worth about $3.2 billion and the New England Patriots’ value of $3.8 billion may be a little higher after last night’s win.
Regardless of who plays or wins each year, US retailers bring in about $15 billion of Super Bowl related revenue leading up to the game, with most being spent on food and drinks for the game. According to a survey by the National Retail Federation, 61 million Americans planned to attend a party, 44 million planned to throw one, and 13 million were going to watch in a bar or restaurant. The average viewer spends $81 on Super Bowl Sunday night. The largest share of those watching (43%) say the game is the most important part of the event, but 23% cite the commercials, 14% getting together with friends, 13% the halftime show, and 7% of honest Americans just like the food.
Super Bowl commercial spots are the most expensive on TV in the U.S. by a long way, with a 30-second slot costing $5.25 million. That works out at roughly $175,000 per second. By comparison, thirty-second ads during regular-season NFL games usually cost around $625,000, according to Kantar Media. Fox, CBS, and NBC rotate on showing the Super Bowl each year and CBS got to host last night’s game. The network brought in close to half a billion in total ad revenue.
How much do those on the field make? The referees make between $4,000 and $10,000. The players of the losing team made $59,000 each and the winners brought home $118,000. Can you guess how much Maroon 5 made for performing during half time? The number is $0! Artists are happy to obtain the gig to perform for the world and typically see a huge boost in sales of songs and albums afterwards.
As many of you know, the Super Bowl extends far outside the U.S. It is televised in 180 different countries in 25 different languages. The last five Super Bowls have passed the 100 million global viewers mark by a good margin. The time difference in many countries has led to work being called off on Monday to recover from the late night. Even Australia gets a television audience of over 200,000 for each Super Bowl. That is quite a high figure considering the game begins at 10:30 a.m. on a Monday in Sydney and Melbourne.
Although it was the most boring game of all time, it was great to see how well Atlanta hosted all week long. This was a good showcase for getting some World Cup games in 2026 when the USA, Canada, and Mexico are the host countries.
Dan Hall
