How the Philadelphia Eagles’ Super Bowl festivities are boosting the local economy

From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!

Seven years ago, John Allgood had a front-row seat of the last Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl parade — watching the celebration unfold just steps from his home near the Art Museum.

Allgood remembers fans tailgating the parade as early as 5 a.m. and celebrating all day long.

“The bars were packed, just absolutely packed. People would stand out in front of the bar and then once the parade went by they went back into the bar and probably stayed there the rest of the day,” he said.

Allgood is now an instructor of sports business management at the Lerner College of Business and Economics at the University of Delaware and is the former executive vice president of Prodigal LLC, a sports and entertainment company.

“So it’ll be a great business day for the bars and restaurants,” he said. “Since the party continues, I could see people get a hotel room for the night too.”

When there’s a massive celebration, it tends to attract not just diehard sports fans but also casual fans who join in, buy merchandise and get into the community spirit.

“You’ve got to think about the positive economic impact of all the variables, not just the hotel or restaurant. Parking is a huge part of this because you’ve got the pay to park in Center City,” he said.

SEPTA is also running express trains into Center City from the suburbs and the subways were sponsored by Gran Coramino Tequila – a liquor company owned by actor and comedian Kevin Hart – so fans can ride for free on the day of the parade. Just before 8 a.m. on Friday, about 30,000 people rode SEPTA into Center City.

On Super Bowl Sunday alone, Philadelphia had about 353,900 visitors in Center City – about 44% higher than the same day in 2018. An estimated 1.4 million people showed up for the Eagles parade in 2018, and at least 1 million are expected on Friday.

The economic impact calculation is often a per capita equation. So if each fan spends $50 during the parade on food, drinks and merchandise and there’s 1 million people, that’s a potential economic impact of $50 million, Allgood said.

“It’s not just about the parade, it’s about the community coming together to see this team for the last time that won a championship because not all those guys are going to come back,” Allgood said. “Then there’s this bonding with total strangers because you’re all fans of the Eagles.”

In 2018, the parade cost $2.27 million. Back then, the state of Pennsylvania chipped in $500,000 while the Philadelphia Eagles contributed $273,000 and the city of Philadelphia paid the remaining $1.5 million.

The Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association calculated that $3.3 million in hotel revenue was generated by the Philadelphia Eagles’ championship, with rooms booked between mid-January through the Super Bowl parade. During that time, the region booked 12,573 more hotel rooms than the previous year.

In 2018, the average daily hotel room rate was $244, and hotel occupancy was 90% the day of the parade, according to Smith Travel Research compiled by Visit Philly.

The data for this year won’t be available for another week, but experts are keeping tabs on progress.

“With each Eagles’ victory, we saw reservations coming into hotels that were along the parade route,” said Ed Grose, executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association. “It’s not only good for our Center City hotels, but it’s also good for our hotels on the periphery because they’re going to get compression from the parade.”

That means for each Eagles’ fan in a Center City hotel room, travelers visiting for any other reason are likely to book rooms further out.

The post-season football boost makes a difference for the hospitality industry because it’s otherwise slower after the holidays.

“Typically in February, it’s slow, so it’s very important [for hotels] but it’s also important for anyone who makes a living in the hospitality industry, like Uber drivers, bartenders and restaurants,” Grose said. “We won’t know until it’s all over, but if we do end up with a lot of three-night [hotel] stays, then we have a home run turned into a grand slam and that would be phenomenal for our hotels.”

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to reflect John Allgood’s correct title.