Super Bowl LV (55) will crown either the Kansas City Chiefs or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as champions of the National Football League’s 101st season. Though the COVID-19 pandemic is still a threat, the Super Bowl will be played for a live audience. However, each ticket pod will be socially distanced from the others, and fans will have to wear face coverings.
This year’s Super Bowl features a very familiar face – Tom Brady, who has won six Super Bowls for the New England Patriots but now plays for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He’s also the oldest quarterback in the NFL at age 43. The other quarterback, Patrick Mahomes of the Chiefs, is just 25 years old and led his team to victory in last year’s Super Bowl.
It’s no wonder why millions of people will tune in to this big sporting event on television. But the fact that we’ll again consume more than a billion chicken wings while watching billions of dollars’ worth of commercials with a bit of football mixed in might just boggle your mind. And if you want interesting Super Bowl facts, we’ve got plenty more where that came from.
Only time will tell which team ends up making the 220-mile trek up Florida’s Turnpike to Disney World after the game. But we can certainly get you prepared for the action in the meantime. Below, you’ll find an awesome infographic with our favorite Super Bowl LV fun facts, plus a Q&A with a panel of sports business experts. Enjoy the game!
Top 5 Super Bowl Facts for 2021:
- $5,506: The average cost of a ticket to the past five Super Bowls.
- $8,613: Lowest price of a Super Bowl LV ticket on the resale market (30% increase from 2020).
- It is the 1st time in 37 years when Budweiser won’t air an ad during the Super Bowl (joining Coca-Cola, Hyundai and Pepsi).
- 14,500 fans and 7,500 vaccinated healthcare workers will be at Raymond James Stadium for Super Bowl LV (30% of the stadium’s capacity).
- 72%: Share of Americans who say they are unlikely to host or attend a Super Bowl party this year.
Ask the Experts
For additional insight into the business of the big game, and the NFL more generally, we posed the following questions to a panel of leading experts. You can check out their bios and responses below.
- Who's your pick to win?
- What kind of economic impact do you expect the Super Bowl will have on the Tampa Bay area?
- What trends do you expect from the commercials this year? Is Super Bowl ad time an effective investment for companies?
- What are the biggest issues facing the future of the league economically?
- What do you think will be the impact of this year’s reduced capacity for the Super Bowl match on ticket prices and on the overall experience?
Ask the Experts
- Vassilis Dalakas
Ph.D. – Professor of Marketing & Chair, Department of Marketing – Cal State University San Marcos and Visiting Professor of Sports Marketing – San Diego State University Sports MBA, IÉSEG School of Management
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- Robert E. Baker
Ed.D. – Interim Dean and Professor, College of Education and Human Development; Director, Center for Sport Management – George Mason University
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- Ron Wade
Clinical Assistant Professor, School of Kinesiology – University of Michigan
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- Andrew R.M. Smith
Ph.D. – Assistant Professor of Sport Management & History; Author of “No Way But to Fight: George Foreman and the Business of Boxing” – Nichols College
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- Heidi Grappendorf
Associate Professor & Graduate Program Director, Sport Management – Western Carolina University
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- Vicki D. Schull
Ph.D. – Lecturer, M.Ed. Director, Sport Management; CEHD; School of Kinesiology – University of Minnesota
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