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🏈 $1.25 Billion for a Ball Game?
How Louisiana Turned Super Bowl LIX into a Masterclass in Economic ROI
Samuel Rogers
September 14, 2025
When New Orleans landed Super Bowl LIX, it wasn’t just about football—it was a calculated economic bet. That bet paid off. A newly released study from Louisiana State University’s E.J. Ourso College of Business pegs the total economic impact at $1.25 billion.
This isn’t your average victory lap. This is a case study in civic ROI—with spending multipliers, job creation, infrastructure ROI, and brand equity that extends far beyond four quarters of football.
Let’s break it down.
📊 The $1.25 Billion Breakdown
🧮 Economic Impact Summary
Category | Amount |
|---|---|
🏦 Total Economic Output | $1.25 billion |
👷 Jobs Supported | 9,787 |
💵 Worker Earnings | $395 million |
🏛 State & Local Taxes | $82.7 million |
Source: LSU E.J. Ourso College of Business, 2025
🎯 Where the Money Went: Deep Dive
1. Visitor Spending — $500.2M
Game attendees (65,719): $5,553 avg spend → $351.6M
Non-attendees (49,281): $4,246 avg spend → $148.6M
Breakdown by category (attendee average):
Category | Avg Spend |
|---|---|
Lodging | $1,439 |
Gambling | $1,292 |
Food & Drink | $905 |
Shopping | $375 |
Transportation | $153 |
Other Entertainment | $1,389 |
92% of visitors stayed 3.5 nights on average. Median income ranged from $200K–$500K, making this one of the highest-spending crowds in recent sports history.
2. Vendor, Media, & Sponsorship Spend — $180.3M
Direct injections from NFL, vendors, broadcasters, sponsors.
Funded logistics, infrastructure, advertising, and local hiring.
3. Sector-by-Sector Wins
🏨 Hotels & Lodging
$91.1M from attendees, $42.5M from non-attendees
Airbnb & short-term rental revenue: $11.6M, with 62.6% YoY rate increase
🎰 Casinos & Gambling
$110.5M in visitor spend—driven by affluent out-of-state guests
🍽️ Restaurants & Bars
Combined spend: $84.6M
🛍️ Retail + NFL Experience
$35.5M in merchandise & experiential purchases
🧠 Strategy Behind the Spend
This wasn’t just about the game—it was economic choreography.
🏛 Infrastructure ROI
$70M+ in 550+ improvement projects (roads, lighting, tourism signage)
Upgrades funded via public-private partnerships tied to the event
🌐 Global Visibility
128M viewers globally—the most-watched Super Bowl in 10 years
Media coverage earned value: $6M
Louisiana NOW Pavilion hosted 4,000+ global business leaders
This isn’t sports tourism—it’s economic diplomacy.
📈 Comparative Context
2x the impact of Super Bowl XLVII (New Orleans, 2013)
2nd highest Super Bowl economic output of all time
Now tied with Miami for most Super Bowls hosted (11)
🧩 What Smart Cities Can Learn
Strategic Lever | Why It Worked |
|---|---|
🎯 Targeted Wealth Demographics | High-spend visitors = outsized economic ripple |
🧱 Infrastructure Piggyback | Long-term utility from short-term upgrades |
🌍 Media + Business Pairing | Local branding meets global investment window |
🛠 Civic Coordination | Seamless alignment across tourism, policy, business |
This is economic development through spectacle.
And Louisiana just wrote the playbook.
Want the playbook for turning mega-events into billion-dollar civic wins?
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