PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Often, when a major league team like the Phillies makes a run to the World Series or an NFL team like the Eagles makes it to the Super Bowl, it’s looked at as an economic boon for the home region of those teams. But a Philadelphia-area economist says that’s not necessarily so.
"The impact of any sports franchise, any even mega event like a Super Bowl, World Series is really quite small in terms of the impact itself and the impact relative to the size of the local economy,” said Temple University economics professor Michael Leeds.
He says, in many cases, new money is not being poured into the economy; it’s just money that would have been spent anyway going into one pocket instead of another.
"And if they go to a sports bar instead of buying dinner out at a fancy restaurant, spending may actually go down — because they would've spent more at an expensive restaurant than at a sports bar,” Leeds said.
"What you have to do is to ask yourself, what new spending is there that would never have been there unless this event had taken place And not ‘How much do people spend on this?’ but ‘How much do they spend on this that is in addition to what else they would've spent?’”
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And while home games do bring people to the city, generating sales tax and parking revenue and such, Leeds said, those modest benefits can be offset.
"The extra revenue is really quite small, and then you have added expenses as well. You have security, you have police, you have sanitation. So it's not just money coming in in tax revenue, it's money going out in expenses as well."
However, Leeds adds, even if a Super Bowl is not a super boost to the economy, it's still a great ride.
"We should enjoy it for what it is — and it's a fun time. We should just be happy and be content with that."