Super Bowl LVIII: Betting By The Numbers

The Super Bowl has a rich history dating back over half a century, with Super Bowl LVIII serving as the 58th edition.

The first Super Bowl was played on Jan. 15, 1967, between the Packers and Chiefs

• The game was in front of nearly 62,000 fans at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
• Vince Lombardi’s Packers dominated the Chiefs in a 35-10 rout.

The Super Bowl is played between the winners of the AFC and NFC

• The trophy is called the Lombardi Trophy and is named after the legendary Packers head coach.
• Since then, the game has grown rapidly in stature and significance.

The Super Bowl now draws roughly one-third of the nation’s population

• Super Bowl LVII set a record with 115.1 million American viewers.

The average ticket to Super Bowl LVII cost $9K, 1/7th the U.S. median income in 2023

• Tickets aren’t the only expensive Super Bowl items. With so many viewers, advertising agencies are willing to pay a high premium to air their commercials during the game.

The average cost to run a 30-second ad during the Super Bowl was $7 million

• There were 70 ads during last year’s Super Bowl

Players are compensated for playing in the Super Bowl

• Every player on the winning team receives a $164,000 bonus. Each player on the losing team receives $82,000.

The Super Bowl takes place on the second Sunday in February

• Because the game is played in winter, it typically occurs in warmer U.S. cities or indoor stadiums.

Super Bowl LVIII will be played at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada

• Miami has hosted the most Super Bowls at 11, followed by New Orleans at 10.

The Packers won the first Super Bowl ever played in 1967

• Green Bay won the second Super Bowl, defending their title with a 33-14 blowout win over the Oakland Raiders.

The New England Patriots are the winningest team

• The New England Patriots hold the records for most Super Bowl appearances (11) and titles (six).
• Nearly all of the Patriots’ success occurred in the new millennium. Led by head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady, they made nine Super Bowl appearances and won six championships over an 18-season.

The Steelers are tied with the Patriots for most championships (six)

• They are followed by the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers with five apiece.
• The 49ers won a record five straight Super Bowl appearances without losing.

Of the 32 NFL teams, 12 have never won a Super Bowl

• Four teams – the Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars, Houston Texans and Detroit Lions – have never reached the Big Game.

The Super Bowl has seen several blowouts over the years

• The largest Super Bowl margin of victory was 45 points.
• It came when the San Francisco 49ers trounced the Denver Broncos, 55-10, in Super Bowl XXIV in 1990.

The biggest upset in Super Bowl history came in Super Bowl III

• Joe Namath and the New York Jets upset the Baltimore Colts as 18-point underdogs against the spread.

The Bills have the most consecutive appearances with four from 1991-94

• However, they lost all four games.
• Several teams have won back-to-back Super Bowls, but no team has ever won three Super Bowls in a row.

With the proliferation of streaming services and cord-cutting, live sports are among the only programs regularly drawing high viewership numbers.

The Super Bowl occupies its own stratosphere. The NFL is the most popular sport in the U.S., and watch parties are common.

Even non-football fans tend to tune in to watch the commercials or halftime show.

Watching the Super Bowl is straightforward. The game airs in over 100 countries and is broadcast in dozens of languages. Audience consumption varies by country.

85% of U.S. viewers watch the Super Bowl live on TV

• Compared to 70% in Canada and 50% in the U.K. International viewers are likelier to watch the game online.

Men account for about 54% of the Super Bowl TV audience

• These figures are actually consistent with the regular season, according to the NFL.
• The Super Bowl viewership numbers are fairly even regarding gender.

Three-quarters of people aged 18-34 watch the Super Bowl

• Meanwhile, 62% of people in the 65+ age group tune in.
• Younger viewers are likelier to watch the Super Bowl online, whereas it’s the TV for older viewers.

Super Bowl LVII reversed a four-year decline in viewership

• The previous record was 114.4 million viewers for Super Bowl XLIX between the Patriots and Seahawks in 2015.
• Interestingly, both games were considered even matchups. Patriots versus Seahawks was a pick’em, while the Eagles were favored by only 1.5 points over the Chiefs in 2023.

This year’s viewership could be even higher, with the game airing in two formats for the first time.

There will be a traditional broadcast on CBS and a family-friendly version on Nickelodeon. Several streaming services will also show the game, including Paramount+.

The Super Bowl is a major revenue driver and can boost the local economy of the host city, even more than a Taylor Swift or Beyoncé concert.

In 2020, the Super Bowl brought 4,500 jobs to Miami

• It had an overall economic impact of $571 million.

In 2023, the Super Bowl’s economic impact on the Phoenix area was $1 billion

• With the game on a Sunday evening, fans typically fly in and spend the weekend in the host city. The increased demand allows hotels to raise their rates and brings many people into local shops, restaurants and attractions.

Hotel prices increase by about 170% during Super Bowl weekend

• Similarly, Uber tacked on an additional $20 event surcharge for pickups and a $10 event surcharge for dropoffs in the vicinity of State Farm Stadium in Phoenix on the day of the Super Bowl.

Each 30-second ad costs roughly $7 million

• Super Bowl LVI produced $578.4 million of in-game ad revenue in 2022.

In 2023, an estimated 50 million Americans wagered on the Super Bowl

• Bets totaled an estimated $16 billion.
• This was the first year the Super Bowl was played in a state with legal sports betting (Arizona).
• The Super Bowl and March Madness generate roughly the same betting dollars.

Only 10 states reported Super Bowl handle in 2023

• Only about $550 million of the estimated $16 billion was officially accounted for by individual betting states.

Nevada won about $10 million from its handle.

• The Nevada casino industry has twice lost money on the Super Bowl in the past 33 years.

Hundreds of prop bets are available for the Super Bowl

• A popular novelty props for the game is the result of the coin toss at the start of the game (heads or tails).
• The most popular prop bet tends to be which player will score the game’s first touchdown.
• As for standard markets, the most popular betting markets include moneyline wagers and spread bets.

FanDuel is one of the most popular Super Bowl betting platforms

• It accepted roughly 17 million bets for Super Bowl LVII, including 50,000 bets per minute at its peak.
• FanDuel also saw half a million new customers sign up before the Big Game.
• With sports betting expanding throughout the U.S. in 2023, those numbers could rise even higher in 2024.

Photo by David Becker/Getty Images

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