This post is from guest blogger Jim Zissler:
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was in Los Angeles on Tuesday to tour the headquarters of the NFL Network and NFL.com. While there, he spoke to reporters about the possibility of bringing a Super Bowl to LA in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the first Super Bowl, played at the LA Coliseum in 1966.
Goodell sees the need for an LA franchise as a goal for the NFL and hosting a Super Bowl could build some traction for a team to ultimately end up in the country’s #2 media market.
I agree with Goodell for wanting to bring a Super Bowl to LA, as the Super Bowl really is a destination more than anything. Goodell also spoke last year of ultimately bringing a Super Bowl to London, where they’ve scheduled regular season games the past two years. I’m all for putting the game in unique locales (and think New York with the new stadium and cold weather would be great), but what about some overlooked NFL cities receiving the game, namely New Orleans?
Just yesterday, the NCAA announced that the Final Four would return to the Superdome in 2012. And this past February, it played host to the NBA All Star Game, which I attended and can vouch for how well the city staged the event. These are great events for a city still recovering from Katrina, but look at the economic impact of these events on a host city, compared to a Super Bowl:
Final Four: $50-75 million
NBA All Star Game: $90 million (from 2008 in New Orleans)
Super Bowl: $300-400 million
While the Super Bowl isn’t a charity event for the host city, the amount pumped into the local economy is staggering. The NFL is going to make money wherever it chooses to hold a Super Bowl, why not put it back in New Orleans in 2013 and allow it to continue to help rebuild the city?
Jim Zissler is vice president of sales and marketing for Inside Sports & Entertainment Group, a leading provider of ticket and travel packages to sports and entertainment events worldwide. He can be reached at jzissler@insideseg.com
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