The city that is home to this year’s Super Bowl winner can expect additional income in its community as a result of the win, according to Dr. Michael Davis, associate professor of economics at Missouri University of Science and Technology.
Davis has studied the economic impact of successful National Football League franchises. In research conducted with Dr. Christian End, an associate professor of psychology at Xavier University, Davis found that teams with winning records create about $100 additional income per capita into their communities. A team that wins the Super Bowl would bring another $20 “bonus” per capita to that team’s home city, Davis says.
“We found that winning teams can have a positive effect on the real per capita personal income of the metropolitan area,” Davis says. “In general, on average any NFL team that ends up with 10 or 11 wins in the season will generate about $100 additional income per person in their communities.”
Davis attributes the added income to increased sales and consumption, as well as increased productivity. A winning team tends to attract a larger fan base than one that is not as successful, he says.
Fans of winning teams also tend to be happier, which could lead them to spend more money or be more productive at work, Davis says.
Davis and End’s research paper, “A Winning Proposition: The Economic Impact of Successful National Football League Franchises,” was published in the journal Economic Inquiry (Vol. 48, No. 1, January 2010, 39-50).
