Finally, some pragmatic sports economics reporting from the mainstream media. Tim Gallen comments on a Bloomberg story via his article in today’s Phoenix Business Journal, “Bloomberg: Debunking the myth of Super Bowl spending in Phoenix“:
All eyes were on Phoenix for a two-week period leading up to Super Bowl XLIX. But despite thousands of well-heeled fans and corporate suits in town for the festivities, the economic activity surrounding the big game turned out to be less than an average January overall…
According to the numbers from First Data, a payment processing company, Phoenix saw a 3.1 percent bump in credit card activity during the two weeks leading up to Super Bowl XLIX. But that rate was actually less than half the 6.4 percent rate recorded during the same period in 2014.
In addition to this one indicator (a small part of a large picture), I have reported previously that even this much more realistic parameter doesn’t take into account the massive taxpayer-funded subsidies, incremental public safety costs, and the exporting of corporate profits by chain hotels, restaurants, and the NFL.
This is not a positive economic model, let alone one that contributes to economic sustainability for the Valley.