XLIX finacial impact - economists must have guessed wrongly

[DJofSD]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-06/the-myth-of-super-bowl-spending-phoenix-didn-t-get-rich?hootPostID=5b947f0a35870fc17ea6caefc2f626bc


The Myth of Super Bowl Spending: Phoenix Didn't Get Rich

The host city saw an uptick in consumer spending around the big game. But a normal January still does better business


Looks to me like the local economy took a hit when the residents battened down the hatches.

[Robert Fischer]

Looks like their math is on shaky ground.

[Robert Fischer]

This year it GREW 3.1%.
Last year it GREW 6.4%.

To begin with, citing "slower growth" isn't my idea of the greatest proof in the world.

Does tremendous growth just keep shooting up to the moon, year after year, with infrastructure zooming along ahead and outward??

Maybe they maxed out last year. Maybe they hit a plateau?
or Maybe the stance that the article insinuates is correct and they were going to zoom along in a celebration of growth, but hosting the Super Bowl slowed it down. I'm not trying to be a smartass, it's possible that the article could be accurate.

They also excluded Gas purchases, because when they included gas purchases the data didn't support their stance as well. With the lower gas prices, it's extremely logical that there would be some distortion, but I certainly haven't spent more than 10 seconds considering how much such an exclusion may or may not re-shape the big picture.

So, it's interesting, but you can see some of the reasons why I question what they are publishing.

[RXB]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-06/the-myth-of-super-bowl-spending-phoenix-didn-t-get-rich?hootPostID=5b947f0a35870fc17ea6caefc2f626bc

Looks to me like the local economy took a hit when the residents battened down the hatches.

I enjoy watching football and to a lesser extent basetball/basketball/hockey but it's becoming more of a "God help me, I love it so" thing with each passing year. Economic impact is such a BS measurement; a lot of times it's just a matter of spending being moved from one discretionary item to another. And even if an event draws tourists, by the time they factor in all of the costs and tradeoffs, there's often minimal-to-zero advantage to the community as a whole.

Look no further than Glendale and the huge losses/risks with the arena and the guarantees to the Coyotes.

Major sports now, as much as anything, are about rich people bilking the general taxpayer under the guise of "economic impact" and "community spirit."

[Robert Goren]

The question becomes was the money not spent in sectors of the economy, merely postponed until after the super bowl or is it permanently lost. Having huge infusions of out of the region cash is almost always a good thing for most of the area's businesses, but not all. I think you have to look at a longer time frame in order to judge if it was a good deal or not for Phoenix.