Indy-Based Super Bowl Means Big Bucks

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(MUNCIE) - Hosting the Super Bowl in 2012 could mean a big economic boost for the Indianapolis metro area. That’s according to a study from Ball State University.

Michael Hicks, Director of Ball State's Bureau of Business Research, said increased hotel, restaurant and other activity created by the Super Bowl will result in a significant, one time increase of $365 million dollars in local revenue, including $202 million dollars in labor compensation and the creation of roughly 5,000 jobs.

His analysis also found that state and local tax income would top $32 million dollars under the current tax structure. Hicks said this estimate is highly consistent with other projections relying on historical date of actual economic benefits from Super Bowls dating to the 60's.

Hicks says a Super Bowl is an excellent opportunity to focus attention on a community's sporting venues, often a desired amenity to businesses and residents, adding that sporting events like the Super Bowl with their festival atmosphere, are just plain fun and more welcomed to a community than, say, the highly sought -after annual meeting of the American Economic Association.

Hicks also pointed out that the Super Bowl attracts visitors, players, performers, revelers and the media to a community, often for lengthy periods weeks or months before the game -- creating an extended economic impact on a community in terms of wages, the value of goods and services sold and in tax receipts.

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