The Effect of Hosting a Super Bowl on Local Debt Capital Markets

Abstract

Proponents of the Super Bowl claim beneficial ‘development’ effects of hosting the game on local businesses. Thus, one might expect to see corresponding adjustments in the local market for debt capital—the predominant source of business creation and reinvestment—around the time of the Super Bowl. Leveraging a panel dataset of 165 local lenders headquartered in 13 Super Bowl host cities between 1971 and 2011, the analysis finds no consistent trends in the volume of debt capital lent or lenders’ external risk exposure. Somewhat consistent trends were documented for lenders’ internal risk structure and financial performance. Results also suggest that in cities that host the Super Bowl regularly, there are lending contractions around the time of the game, which are followed by reactionary expansions after the game.