Super Bowl fans spent $151.92 each on food, drink, stuff

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Going to the Super Bowl is a rare and special thing. So rare and special that the people who show up for the game happily accept the fact that everything is really expensive, forking over whatever the price may be for grossly overpriced food, beverages, and merchandise.

Via SportsBusiness Journal and ESPN.com, that mindset allowed for $6.2 million to be spent on food and beverages, an average of $87.57 per person. According to SBJ, another $4.6 million was spent on merchandise, pushing the total per person expenditure to $151.92.

That’s $151.92 for each of the 71,088 who attended. Which resulted in another $10.8 million flowing through the cash register.

When it comes to food and drink only, the record high came at MetLife Stadium two years ago, when fans spent an average of $94.60.

Meanwhile, I spent $59.64 on eight medium-sized pizzas from a national chain that needs no free advertising, feeding nine people and providing four days and counting of lunch and/or dinner for me since then. Which would explain why I’ve been spending so much time in the bathroom.

41 responses to “Super Bowl fans spent $151.92 each on food, drink, stuff

  1. I suppose spending $151.92 on a Super Bowl game day beer doesn’t seem like much when the average Super Bowl ticket costs over $6,000.

  2. I wonder if any of those fans spewed out their $12 beer when Cam tippy-toed backwards away from his fumble? Okay, I’ll stop, Cam-slamming is pretty much done. We all saw it and commented already. (Still, it was a good one.)

  3. If your willing to shell out at least 1k for a ticket then 150 bucks for food and souvenirs is nothing.

  4. By definition, the food, beverages, and merchandise were not overpriced if the fans at the stadium were buying them. People at the Super Bowl are willing to spend money so that drives up the price.

  5. I would think that if prices were a bit lower they would have sold more of the junk and increased their revenue.

  6. 8 pizzas for like 60 bucks? Those must have been delicious. A decent pizza costs 20 bucks. I won’t eat those national chain brands. They don’t pay well enough to get the pizza maker to do a decent job. You get what you pay for, and apparently 60 bucks for 8 pizzas will give you diarrhea.

  7. I’ve been to 2 Super Bowls, both corporate trips that were fully paid for. NEVER in a million years would I go if I were paying myself – it’s completely outrageous what everything costs, and I do mean EVERYTHING. Our group was seeking a restaurant to host a Saturday night deal in Detroit back in ’07, and one place wanted $25k – just for the ROOM, before any inflated food/drink charges we were to run up. Freaking ridiculous gouging going on everywhere. Had a FAR better time at the Indy 500 in ’08. Would do that again in a heartbeat if offered that or another SB.

  8. Actually, the beers were $13 each. I believe that is a file, generic photo. A Cola was $7. I sat in seats with face value of $1800 that cost me almost double that, but I will still complain about the $13 beer.

  9. …meanwhile the cashiers and cooks dolling out those $12 beers and $16 dollar sandwiches were making a paltry $10 – $13 dollars an hour, no breaks, clock in after the 2 hour wait through security and before the 2 hour shuttle back to the parking lot.

  10. I gave the cat an extra bowl of tuna while we watched the Super Bowl. It cost $1.39 plus sales tax. I did the same thing, with the same cat, the first time the Panthers lost a Super Bowl. Next year they’ll win and I’ll give her two bowls. I’m a big spender.

  11. Just another rich mans activity built on the back of the working man. I am far from a socialist, but these prices are crazy

  12. Someone must have spent extra to cover my portion. I drank Jameson’s at the tailgate & then skipped the $13 Bud Light. Part of that was the price & part of it was that it was Budweiser.

  13. I went to NY a couple of years ago and didn’t spend a penny inside the stadium. We just ate dinner before the game and passed on the $20 beers, which wouldn’t have gotten us drunk and would have forced us to miss part of the game to go wait in line at the bathroom! Win/win.

  14. Most people attending the Super Bowl aren’t fans of either team. Just a bunch of VIP’s invited by Corporate America. I’m sure they bought some gear just to prove they were at the game.

  15. I wonder if the expenses for buffets and bottomless drinks in the box seats are biasing the number upward. I bet the average spend per attendee was much lower for regular seats, but the box-seat accommodations billed to corporate accounts might skew the data.

  16. I don’t think there is any skewing of results- I saw the prices first hand. The closest beverage stand to me was selling wine at $25 per 6 ounce pour – no joke. Wasn’t even premium wine – not bad but one was William Hill Chardonnay. Never seen anything like it.

  17. have no idea how much my wife paid for appetizers (chicken wings, three sauces), food (chili w chicken, sour crème, cheese, garlic bread), desert (chocolate cake, crème cheese icing and chocolate sprinkles) and beverages (beer, wine, soft drinks) and other sundries, but the bathrooms were clean, had a wonderful view of the game on the 55″ hd flat screen…travel time was 0 minutes and very cheap…probably cost a lot less than people but did have to sit through a lot of god-awful commercials…

  18. I go to at least a game a year and refuse to buy a single item of food/drink. That’s what 4 hours of tailgating is for. If you do it correctly you don’t need a single item at a stadium besides the bathroom and your seat. Only exception is a cup of coffee if it’s really cold.

    Same for a movie theater, the sugary crap they peddle at a 500% markup, no thanks, I’ll pass.

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