The Super Bowl, the biggest event in American football, takes place on Sunday as the Seattle Seahawks take on the New England Patriots at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

This major sporting event will energize fans in both cities, with thousands heading to the Bay Area this year. Those who can’t make the trip are expected to still spend a lot of money on food, drinks and watch parties across the United States.

Historically, the Super Bowl has provided significant economic benefits to the host city. For the Bay Area, the event is part of a trio of major sporting events that boost the region’s economy.

Local push?

In 2024, the Bay Area Host Committee commissioned a report projecting the economic impact of hosting the 2025 NBA All-Star Game, 2026 Super Bowl and FIFA World Cup in the region. The report estimates that Sunday’s game alone will generate $370 million to $630 million in economic output for the Bay Area.

Last year’s Super Bowl was held in New Orleans, Louisiana. State officials reported that the event attracted 115,000 visitors and $658 million was spent in the city.

For consumers, Bank of America estimates spending near stadiums will increase 77%. A study analyzing Super Bowl spending patterns from 2017 to 2025 found spending surged on game day in ZIP codes closest to the stadium, with the largest increases in food and parking costs.

Hosting the games does come at the city’s own expense.

In the case of Santa Clara, the production was smaller compared to forecast production. Last year, the city was expected to spend $6.3 million, including training staff to handle the influx of visitors and other logistical needs. However, other games impose much higher costs on municipalities. When Atlanta hosted the Super Bowl in 2019, the city spent an estimated $46 million.

In 2023, the game was held in Glendale, Arizona, outside Phoenix. The second day of the game was the busiest in the history of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, with more than 200,000 passengers passing through the airport. The airport is a hub for American Airlines and low-cost carriers Southwest Airlines and Frontier Airlines also have a large number of flights here.

Other cities have also used major sporting events to launch large infrastructure projects. In 2004, ahead of the Super Bowl in Houston, Texas, the city’s transportation agency, METRO, opened its first light rail line a month before the game. The line is now one of three in the system, stretching from downtown Houston to the city’s football stadium.

Prior to its introduction, Houston was the only major U.S. metropolitan area without a rail system.

But not all infrastructure projects have paid off. Las Vegas built Allegiant Stadium in the neighboring suburb of Paradise after acquiring the Raiders football team from Oakland for the 2020 season. One year later, in 2021, Las Vegas won the right to host the 2024 Super Bowl. The stadium cost $1.9 billion. Nearly $750 million comes from hotel taxes, with local taxpayers picking up the rest.

“The economic benefits are relatively short-lived, not only in duration but also in scope. They are limited to certain industries and specific locations,” Michael Edwards, a professor of sports management at North Carolina State University, told Al Jazeera.

“The NFL (National Football League) often uses the Super Bowl as bait to encourage cities to invest taxpayer dollars in new stadiums. You can see this dynamic in places like Chicago and Cleveland, where officials are considering building domed stadiums. Part of the push is almost certainly the possibility of hosting a Super Bowl, which the league uses as an incentive,” Edwards said.

food expenditure

For those Americans who can’t watch the games live, there’s still a surge in Americans going to bars and restaurants to watch the games or spending money to host watch parties.

The National Retail Federation, which has been tracking Super Bowl spending for the past decade, predicts that Americans will spend a record $20.2 billion, or $94.77 per capita, on the big game, with 79% going on food.

Spending has surged since 2021, when consumers spent $13.9 billion, or $74.55 per capita. However, that figure is down from $17.2 billion in 2020, when the Super Bowl took place about a month before the U.S. COVID-19 lockdowns began.

For those hosting Super Bowl watch parties at home, the cost of buying typical game-day food will be higher than last year. Wells Fargo estimates that hosting 10 people will cost about $140 per person, up from $138 last year.

Chicken wings are a staple for fans and a wallet-friendly attraction; prices are down 2.8% compared to this time last year. Potato chip prices were flat, but prices for lower-priced items such as salsa rose 1.7%.

For those opting for vegetarian platters, healthier options are also becoming more expensive. Cherry tomatoes rose 2%, celery rose 2.6%, and broccoli and cauliflower rose 4%. Beer prices are also climbing, up 1.3% from the same period last year.

Record number of ad clicks

The Super Bowl is airing on NBC, and the network has increased its advertising spending for the big game. The average 30-second ad spot on NBC’s Super Bowl spot in September hit a record high of $10 million, compared with an average of $8 million when Fox aired the Super Bowl last year.

NBC also benefited from a host of sporting events in February that boosted advertising revenue, including the Winter Olympics. The opening ceremony will be held on Friday and will run until February 22. NBC has exclusive rights to broadcast the Olympics in the United States.

“With the resurgence of the Olympics, the strongest Sports Upfront in our history, an early sellout of Super Bowl 60 and the dramatic return of the NBA, NBCUniversal has solidified itself as a sports powerhouse and brands are taking notice,” Mark Marshall, chairman of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal, said in a release.

The last time the games were held in the same year was 2024, the two events were the most-watched events on linear television.

On Wall Street, NBC’s upcoming sports events have sent shares of parent company Comcast soaring more than 4% in the past five days.