Irony: Glendale lost money on Super Bowl

May 14th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanR

I’m no economist — although I play one on the Internet! — but I would think hosting a large event like say, the Super Bowl, might net your metropolis some cash — seeing as a lot of tourists will flock into town and buy stuff. This is what I can only assume Glendale thought when it hosted the Super Bowl this year. (And yes, cities can have thoughts.)

However, not true. Turns out they lost some mad scrill. About $2.2 mill, in fact. From the Arizona Republic:

Bottom line: The city spent $2.2 million more than its estimated take in connection with the game.[ … ]

A few things worked against Glendale, including the city’s relatively small number of hotels, and the practice of host cities waiving sales-tax collections on game tickets and some merchandise to the NFL.

The city could boast just 400 hotel rooms when University of Phoenix Stadium opened in 2006. That quadrupled to 1,266 hotel rooms by the Super Bowl. Dozens of restaurants and stores opened near the stadium in the weeks leading up to the game.

Still, the study found that just 5 percent of an estimated 123,500 out-of-town visitors stayed in Glendale and not yet enough retail and entertainment options existed to satisfy demand.

Pollack, in a memo accompanying the study, said future Super Bowls could bring greater gain to the city.

“As the number of hotel rooms and retail space surrounding the stadium increases over the years, the Glendale benefit could increase significantly,” he said.

This is a good lesson for all you kids out there: if at first you don’t profit on the Super Bowl, build more stuff around the stadium, ensure there’s enough hotels close by to go around and try, try again.

{Via SbB.}