I wanted to take a look at the bigger picture. Regardless of what the media may be feeding us about the recession coming to an end, things are still tough across our country. For that one Sunday of watching professional athletes, a working class man will save up for an entire year to take his kids to a ball game. A fan in Miami who loves the Raiders will plan an entire vacation around going to see their black and silver line up on the field. The owners and athletes create the sport, but we as fans make the sport. If it was not for us spending money on our favorite team’s merchandise, creating our man caves with memorabilia, or purchasing tickets, professional sports may not be what it is today.
With that said, how much would it hurt if a professional sports season was cancelled? It would be a dark day in the lives of us fans, but even a darker time for local businesses and economies.
To begin, we can look at a smaller picture. It is no secret that the United States was based on a foundation of small business. Walmart started out as a five-and-dime store, the Wright Brothers started out of a garage, and Facebook and Napster were started inside of dorm rooms. When people go to the games they travel. They stay at hotels, they eat at restaurants, they rent cars, they buy airline tickets, they purchase tickets, they buy jerseys, they go to the bars, they put gasoline in their trucks, they fill up their coolers with ice and beer, they tailgate, they buy parking passes, etc. The mom and pop shops that surround the cities ultimately see a large increase in business.
The NFL is a 10 billion dollar organization. A typical NFL game, for example, is said to bring in as much as 15 million dollars to the local economy that is hosting it. That does not include network premier games such as Monday Night Football, The Pro Bowl, The Super Bowl, etc. This is just for a regular season game. If you crunch the numbers, a typical NFL team has 8 home games each season. That would mean over $120 million dollars in lost to local economies just during the regular season. This is just the one day that the game is actually played and doesn’t count the even smaller picture of flea market corner hustlers able to feed their children by selling team jerseys or memorabilia.
To take it a bit farther, the hosting cities of the NFL Super Bowl reportedly can expect a $350 million dollar economic impact. This includes new hotels and accommodations for those projected to come to the Super Bowl civil engineering improvements like expanded freeways, and cleanup projects like the 2007 Super Bowl in Detroit where 42 abandoned houses were tore down. Three years ago the Houston Super Bowl Host Committee estimated that its game would generate more than $330 million in economic impact. After the controller’s office crunched the numbers, it was announced that $129 million was in direct spending. The event generated $3.2 million in sales taxes for the city, and the net profit was figured to be $913,397. It may not sound like a lot, but in a time of economic uncertainty, that sounds pretty nice indeed. In a nutshell – a lockout would HURT.
John Skorburg, an economist at the University of Illinois at Chicago, estimates the James-led Cavs could generate $15 million for Greater Cleveland for each home playoff game. That's based on a sellout crowd at the Q and 5 percent of the population watching the playoffs -- eating, drinking, bar-hopping, renting cars, buying jerseys and so forth. He figures an average of $100 per person. So on top of $48 million, add 10 home playoff games -- a total of $150 million, according to Skorburg.
Other cities would benefit even more. Skorburg estimates that Chicago would gain $500 million and New York $1 billion, because more people live in those places.
Are you kidding me? Keep in mind this example is if just one person left and attendance dropped for these games. If you take the estimated $180 per person and set it next to a sellout crowd of 22,500 – you’re looking at a 4.5 million dollar hit each game that is not played! This is just in Cleveland. The bigger markets that offer venues that support as many as 82,500 like the New Meadowlands Stadium for the New York Jets will feel the burn even more.
In an age of nickel and diming to buy time until things look up, it’s time the owners and players come to an agreement to prevent any chance of a lockout. It’s not just about them and their lavish houses, mind blowing cars, and bank accounts so big they could choke a Hippo. We fans make the sport. Would anybody still play for free if nobody was watching? Ok, maybe a few. But for sports stars such as Carson “I have 80 million dollars in the bank. I don’t have to play football” Palmer, they’re probably hoping for a vacation and not worrying about the majority of hard working, blue collar fans or our economy.
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