On Sunday February 2nd, the Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos will be competing to see who will win the 48^th Super Bowl. The game will be held at the Metlife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. As the city prepares to host the largest sporting event of the year, thousands of dollars have been spent in order to host it. With all of the expenses needed to create a memorable game, it could end up being very costly, but the ending result will financially benefit the city greatly.

“If cities are told that a game will boost the visitor spending within their region by $500 million, then this increases their desire to host the game… thereby creating greater competition among cities to want to host the game… which ultimately drives up bid fees and concessions that the NFL can command.” said Forbes sports writer Patrick Rishe.

With the city creating the infrastructure to hold the Super Bowl, the city that hosts the game often receives a large amount of income due to the game.  It is estimated that roughly 100,000 people visit the city for the Super Bowl. With a single ticket costing between $1,000 to $3,000, it is very easy for a family of four to spend a good $12,000 on seats alone. By hosting such a huge sporting event cities which may have not been as popular are able to bring in tourists from all over the country. By having hundreds of thousands of people coming to pay thousands of dollars each, cities can easily make millions of dollars in a single day. As recorded by Rockport Analytics, the 46th annual Super Bowl had grossed over $384.1 million just on Super Bowl Sunday. Aside from the large income the area receives, citizens benefit financially by way of short term employment during the time span of the game. The Super Bowl has been able to support thousands of jobs during the planning, execution, and clean-up of the game. In 2012, the game had supported an estimated 3,600 jobs and businesses. Most of them were related with the selling of merchandise related to The Super Bowl.

“Whether it’s coming from the fans or corporations, there are some big bucks being spent at this year’s Super Bowl, and everyone from pizza parlors to television networks to nightclubs are reaping the financial benefits.” said Investopedia on the subject of Super Bowl Economy.

Although it is still unknown as to what the considerable impact that the Super Bowl XLVIII will have on the economy of East Rutherford, we can predict that the benefits will be great, as it is said that the 48th Super Bowl will be the most expensive and elaborate one yet.