Super Bowl Spending: A Look at the Numbers

When you add it all up, how much money is spent on the Super Bowl? How much do we really consume on Super Bowl Sunday? And how much do we wager?

While those are interesting topics to explore as we get ready for Super Bowl LV between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the reality is that COVID will cast a massive shadow over this year’s game. Let’s explore.

The Inaugural Super Bowl and Its Growth

The inaugural Super Bowl took place in January 1967. The Green Bay Packers, who had already won several NFL championships in that decade, beat the AFL champion Kansas City Chiefs.

Super Bowl I was seen by 51 million television viewers. A 30-second commercial cost $42,000 and admission to the game cost $12 for the best seats in the house. To put this number into perspective, today that costs about the same amount for a single craft beer.

Television Audience & Tickets

The Super Bowl phenomenon has grown as the years have passed. In 2020, about 99.9 million viewers watched the Super Bowl, up slightly from the 98.2 million Americans that watched the big game the year before, which happened to be one of the smallest audiences to watch a Super Bowl in over a decade.

But last year did reverse the four-year trend of declining Super Bowl ratings. This year, the number of viewers is expected to be well over 100 million.

The average cost of tickets to Super Bowl LV is hard to calculate because there are so many moving parts including limited capacity, but this year’s average cost is more than double last year’s $4,500 average per ticket.

In fact, according to Vivid Seats, the least expensive tickets available a week out from the game were a pack of four tickets in upper-level corner section 329, row Z, for $27,610 including fees, or $6,902 per ticket.

Vivid Seats further reports that the average ticket sold so far, before fees, was $11,986. Or, if you want a fantastic seat, there are a few resellers offering tickets upward of $300,000.

Television Commercials

The commercials aired during the Super Bowl have received quite a bit of attention over the years and Super Bowl commercial watch parties have become quite popular.

Because it is such a watched event with very high TV ratings, advertisers develop especially creative, impressive television commercials geared specifically for the gigantic Super Bowl audience. And they also pay a lot to air them: a 30-second commercial now costs a cool $5.6 million.

More recently, social media now figures prominently in conversations over the effectiveness of Super Bowl advertising. And it is the Super Bowl conversations on social media that advertisers are so desperate to figure out.

Consider these stats from last year’s game as reported by Nielsen:

•  In the U.S., there were 43.9 million social media interactions across official Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts.
• The top social minute of the telecast on Twitter occurred at 8:26 ET p.m., during which 144,000 Twitter interactions following the halftime show as fans tweeted about the performance by Jennifer Lopez and Shakira.
• Jennifer Lopez was the top social talent account of the game with 2.2 million engagements.
• Kansas City Chiefs’ quarterback Patrick Mahomes was the most socially engaging athlete account associated with the Super Bowl, with over 514,000 engagements.

Further, Nielsen reports that approximately 2/3 of those interactions were sent by women and almost 1/3 were sent by people aged 30 and under.

Total Consumer Spending and the Impact of COVID

Americans typically spend a significant amount on Super Bowl parties and activities, but this year, average spending is expected to drop from nearly $88 in 2020 to under $75 per person.

The primary reason for this decline is the ongoing impact of COVID-19, which has led to fewer people planning to host or attend Super Bowl gatherings.

Despite the decrease in individual spending, total consumer spending related to the Super Bowl is projected to reach approximately $13.9 billion.

This figure reflects a sharp increase from just $8.71 billion in 2007, showcasing the growth of Super Bowl-related expenditures over the years.

Much of this spending goes toward food and beverages, but consumers also allocate their budgets for team apparel, Super Bowl-specific merchandise, decorations, and even new televisions and furniture to enhance their viewing experience.

In terms of food consumption, Super Bowl Sunday is the second-largest food consumption event in the U.S., only behind Thanksgiving.

Collectively, we will consume approximately:

• 1.5 billion chicken wings
• 28 million pounds of chips
• 10 million pounds of bacon
• 10 million pounds of guacamole
• 350 million gallons of beer

To put this into perspective, with a U.S. population of about 328 million—of which nearly 75 million are under 21—this translates to an average of around 16 twelve-ounce beers per adult of drinking age.

However, indulging in such vast quantities of junk food and alcohol often leads to “Super Sick Monday,” with an estimated 17 million people missing work the day after the Super Bowl, resulting in a loss of about $1 billion in productivity. With many people now working from home, it remains to be seen if this trend will continue this year.

The Future of Betting on the Super Bowl

This year’s Super Bowl is expected to see a huge drop in betting, with estimates expecting Super Bowl betting to drop close to 40% due to COVID. For comparison, last year it was estimated that almost 26 million Americans wagered about $6.8 billion.

Conclusion

The Super Bowl has become the largest entertainment phenomenon in American history. And aside from World Cup soccer in many other countries, it is the largest sporting event in the world. Hundreds of millions of people watch the game, including the commercials that cost millions to make and air.

We spend billions of dollars on the Super Bowl and consume millions of gallons of beer and millions of pounds of food. We comment incessantly on Facebook and Twitter, in addition to our conversations at home, at work, or via telephone or e-mail.

And we will bet about half as much money on a football game as we spent online during Amazon Prime Day (that was about $10 billion).

Makes you wonder, does anyone even watch the game?

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