The Eagles and Chiefs are already making economic winners for Philadelphia and Kansas City

Congratulations if you live in the Philadelphia or the Kansas City Metro area. The fact that your city has reached the Super Bowl will translate into an extra of about $200 in your pocket.

that’s right. Both cities have won economic victories, whether the Philadelphia Eagles or Kansas City Chiefs won the big game on February 9th. Research shows that the playoffs alone are enough to boost individual income in the region. And if your team wins, you and your city will get even greater boost.

As you can imagine, this fall is not due to an increase in product sales. Instead, important drivers are happy. A successful season will boost your fans’ mood, which directly increases spending and productivity.

Why win?

I am a macroeconomicist with an interest in sports economics, and my colleague at Xavier University, Christian End is a psychologist specializing in fan behavior. Together, we presented two studies combining specialties. “Victory Proposition: the economic impact of a successful NFL franchise” and “team success, productivity and economic impact.”

Research using data from the late 20th and early 21st centuries shows that when teams reach a typical number of wins from zero to 11, the typical number needed for a team to make the playoffs, the average income of their hometowns increases on average. I realized that it was. USD 200 per year, adjusted to inflation. We also found that winning the Super Bowl is associated with a $33 bonus, once again being adjusted to inflation.

Multiplying 6 million people living in the Philadelphia metropolitan area and 2 million people in the Kansas City area by $200, overall it costs a lot of money.

It’s not about jerseys, it’s about happiness

If you’ve been to a Super Bowl parade, you might assume that the increase in revenue is linked to people who spend more on team-related products. However, research shows that professional sports teams usually have a small impact on local income.

Even hosting the Super Bowl doesn’t seem to do much. Our research shows that people are financially better if their local team wins the Super Bowl than if their local team is hosted by their local area.

So, if people aren’t spending more directly on the team, something else must be going on. Our work pointed out two possible explanations related to happiness.

First, we hypothesized that happy people tend to spend more. And as people spend more, their income rises because that money is returned to the population through wages. The key here is that people spend more on everything, not just about anything related to sports teams.

Since football season usually ends in December, happy parents, fans of local NFL teams, may be spending more on Christmas presents for their kids. As the Super Bowl stretches into the second half of the winter, loved ones may get better bouquets of flowers and more chocolate for Valentine’s Day, when the local team won the Super Bowl.

Other possible passes are due to increased productivity. Psychology research has found that happy people are more productive. So it makes sense for people in the area to get jobs and work harder as the season progresses and the home team continues to win.

Previous research supports this idea. For example, a 2011 survey found that federal regulators are more productive when Washington’s home teams perform better. Where private companies control the local economy (i.e. most other parts of the US) are more productive, making businesses more profitable and locals more profitable. It may lead to it. Even non-fans see profits when their neighbors are happier, spend more, and work harder.

No matter what the Super Bowl goes, both the Philadelphia and the Metropolitan area of ​​Kansas City have already won. This is because both fans and non-fans in each region benefit from higher incomes.

This article will be republished from the conversation under a Creative Commons license. Please read the original article.