The Super Bowl has long been one of the premier television events in the United States. So much so that it has become more of a cultural event than a football game. The Super Bowl typically draws more than double the viewership of even other playoff games. For many people, it is the only NFL game they will watch that year and is the primary source of small talk in workplaces across the nation for 2 weeks. If you were to look at a top 20 list of the most watched television events of all time in the U.S., Super Bowls would take up 19 of those 20 spots – with the finale of MASH in 1987 coming in at #11.  Last year’s Super Bowl between the Chiefs and 49ers topped the list – averaging over 120 million viewers across 42% of US households according to the Nielsen ratings system. And despite online whispers of a “boycott” due to the Kansas City Chiefs – at times controversial – continued success, the viewership numbers and the dollar values associated with the Super Bowl are only likely to increase in the near future. With record breaking performances and spending surrounding the game, we can examine the economics currently surrounding the Super Bowl as well as where it may be trending.

Big Money Media

Because of how consistently the Super Bowl is able to produce record-breaking broadcasts – regardless of the participants – networks are able to sell notoriously lucrative advertising slots over the course of the 3-plus hour broadcast. These advertising slots are increasing in price as the ratings and dollar values surrounding the game inflate. For this year, NBC is said to be selling 30-second slots for somewhere around $7 million according to NPR, up from about $5.5 million in 2021 in which the total revenue from advertising sales was estimated to be $545 million according to Reuters. If NBC is able to sell a similar number of advertising spaces in 2025 as CBS sold in 2021, the total revenue for 2025 could fall in the $650-700 million range just from advertising space – a shocking amount for a single broadcast. In addition to this, CNN has reported that Fox is placing an $8 million pricetag on their advertising slots for the 2026 Super Bowl – indicating that the recent positive momentum we have seen around the Super Bowl is expected to continue into future years.

To gain the privilege of charging such steep prices to advertisers ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox have come together to strike a deal with the NFL for the domestic broadcast rights for all NFL games until 2033, with the Super Bowl rotating between the 4 networks annually. The biggest winner in this cooperative deal is, of course, the NFL. Each network is kicking in somewhere in the range of $2-3 billion annually for broadcast rights, with additional contributions coming from Netflix and Amazon for their regular season broadcasts. All told, the NFL is likely bringing in around $10 billion annually just for television broadcasting rights, and that astronomical valuation is buoyed by the ability to sell Super Bowl advertising.

In addition to this number – there are huge cash flows coming to the NFL directly from merchandise and brand partnerships in the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl. The major brand partnerships are the biggest individual piece of this pie. While the NFL does not release the revenues they gain from these – a 2024 estimate from consulting firm IEG put the revenues near $1.8 billion – adding more revenues on top of the media rights. The actual tickets to the game will likely bring in an additional $70 million as a cherry on top of this multi-billion dollar sundae. The NFL is by far the biggest winner coming out of Super Bowl Sunday, but they are not the only entity that can claim a benefit from the weekend.

Consumer Spending and Spillover Effects

While the biggest dollar values associated with the Super Bowl are found in the broadcasting and advertising areas, there are some very large externalities in terms of consumer spending that are not usually included in this discussion. The US Chamber of Commerce has released a report from Chief Economist Curtis Dubay showing how the occurrence of the Super Bowl will spur consumer spending in its host city, New Orleans, but also in cities across the country. For the sake of our discussion, these dollar values include any consumer spending in the local economies for the purpose of the Super Bowl – including dollars spent on hotels, meals and shopping by traveling fans in the host city; and pizzas, bar and restaurant tabs, and catering trays for Super Bowl parties in cities across the country. 

Within New Orleans, the Chamber of Commerce estimates that the local economy will see $500 million in economic impact at a minimum as a result of the Super Bowl. Fans coming to the city for the game will be spending money on merchandise from local vendors, eating at local restaurants, sampling the world-famous bar scene, and patroning businesses that employ local workers – all good things for the economy of New Orleans. And the final economic impact for the city may well be significantly higher than the Chamber of Commerce expects. For example, last year’s impact in Las Vegas was calculated to be north of $1 billion.

There is no doubt that New Orleans will see the most direct impact in increased spending from the Super Bowl, but according to the Chamber of Commerce, every community in the US will see some kind of increase in consumption spending due to the cultural relevance of the game. For example, the two cities competing in the Super Bowl – Kansas City and Philadelphia – will see Super Bowl related spending of $123.3 million and $346.8 million, respectively. But, because of the popularity of the Super Bowl as a celebratory event the biggest cities in the country will see the largest impacts outside of New Orleans, despite no direct ties to the game. The New York metro area can expect the biggest amount of consumer spending at over $1 billion, with Los Angeles coming in 2nd at $710 million and Chicago in third with $514 million in spending related to the Super Bowl. 

Even cities like Huntsville, Alabama and Kalamazoo, Michigan will see sizable consumer spending of $29 million and $19 million, respectively. 

If this shows anything, it is that the cash flows associated with the Super Bowl – while highly concentrated with the major powers in the industry – provide significant spillover effects across the country. This is far from an exhaustive economic analysis of the Super Bowl (most notably there are huge dollars in advertising for individuals making appearances on “Radio Row” and other events the week leading up to the Super Bowl) but it provides a snapshot of its importance to the sport as well as its broader effects. While the Super Bowl is, at its core, a 60-minute football game, there are massive financial implications as a result that are felt most intensely in boardrooms and executive offices, but are also seen nationwide – in pizza shops, bars and grocery stores in every community in America.