The Big Game in 2023 Boosted Economic Activity in Glendale, AZ

The Big Game in 2023 boosted economic activity in Glendale, AZ, especially to categories that the city invested in leading up to the event.

The Big Game between Kansas City & Philadelphia increased visitation to nearby hotels by >300%, and dining & convenience stores saw >50% boosts as well. Glendale’s investment in hotels around State Farm Stadium helped contribute to these boosts.

Set the Stage

Last year’s Big Game was the most watched television broadcast of all time, and where there are viewers, there lies opportunity. Private and public stakeholders alike leveraged the event as a chance to market or promote their goods & services. This is especially true for businesses close to the event, and we wanted to see how locations around State Farm Stadium were impacted.

The 2023 game in Glendale generated $1.3 billion in economic activity for the region, a 40% bump compared to the last time it was hosted there in 2015. City officials and host committees can develop a better understanding of potential revenue by identifying the sectors that will benefit the most from an upcoming event. This can aid planners in targeting their investment efforts where it will drive the most return.

Tell the Story

To gauge the effect on nearby businesses, we looked at traffic on Game Day. While apparel and grocery stores remained flat, hotels and quick service businesses (convenience stores & restaurants) saw significant traffic boosts on game day. Quick service businesses saw 70%-85% boosts, and hotels in the area saw >300% increases. Hotels are a sensible category to see growth during touristic events like the Super Bowl, and Glendale capitalized on this opportunity further by investing in hotels close to the stadium.

Note: We compared visitation by category within 3-miles of State Farm Stadium on Super Bowl Sunday to an 8-week baseline.

The area surrounding State Farm Stadium is Glendale’s Entertainment District. The City of Glendale promoted their plans to expand the hotel options in the Entertainment District so that when they next hosted an event like the Super Bowl, the city could take advantage of the increased traffic. They doubled the number of hotel rooms within walking distance of State Farm Stadium, from 800 to 1,700, by opening new hotels, or expanding existing ones. This news sparked our curiosity to better understand whether Glendale’s investment drove sustained visit increases to hotels, even after the event.

We looked at hotel visitation in this district the 2 months following the game, compared with the same period in the previous year and found that foot traffic was up 11% YoY. Glendale’s investment leading up to the game was both effective and sustained.

The Insight & Actions

Glendale officials and the host committee invested in hotels in the Entertainment District to drive revenue for local businesses. City manager Kevin Phelps stated, “adding more hotel rooms has been our goal to keep revenue within the city” and this investment appears to have been successful! Las Vegas has also seen recent investment in new entertainment venues and infrastructure to improve traffic around the strip. With the match set between Kansas City & San Francisco coming up in this weekend, we’ll be watching to see what happens around Allegiant Stadium on game day.

To reach relevant segments, marketers can activate PlaceIQ’s Entertainment, Travel, and Dining Audiences on the programmatic platform of their choice. And to take your analyses to the next level, planners and marketers can leverage our location data & insights products to help predict how events impact businesses.

To reach relevant segments, marketers can activate PlaceIQ’s Entertainment, Travel, and Dining Audiences on the programmatic platform of their choice. And to take your analyses to the next level, planners and marketers can leverage our location data & insights products to help predict how events impact businesses.  To learn more read about our product PlaceIQ Movement.