With Super Bowl Sunday just around the corner, we're looking up from our grocery lists and stepping away from cleaning polishing the pilsner glasses to pose this question:
As a small business owner, would you want the Super Bowl in YOUR community?
Don't answer as a fan, eager to see the game in your market. Think about it from the impact it may have on your business. Will clogged hotels help or hurt you? Do you see logistics concerns from crowded roads? Will additional security checks in your area slow your pace of business or your employees access to work? Are you in a business that benefits from the tourist trade?
We're posing these questions because every year, there are stats hyping the economic benefit to a city as host. They are almost as predictable as the economic hype brought out during Olympic bid times. Yet time and again, these estimates seem to fall short for the cities. So we'd like to take it down to the small business community and see if you think it would be happy days or headache and hangover.
This year's game is in NJ, with NYC touted as either host city, co-host, or city taking all the attention, depending upon whom you ask. Many other potential host cities hover over neighboring markets, that could be a bounty for a city happy to accept overflow, or a nightmare equivalent to a neighbor having a 3 day house party right next door to you. For some perspective from the Jersey side of the Hudson, this article in The Star Ledger provides some food for thought. We suggest a read for the good, the bad, and the seemingly missing revenues before you answer!
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