Houston Matters

Super Bowl Houston 2017, What’s the Real Financial Cost or Gain?

The city of Houston learned this week that it will host the Super Bowl LI in early 2017, the first time in 13 years. In the lead-up to the announcement, there was a lot of talk about why it’s a good idea for the NFL to hold the Super Bowl here. There’s no doubt about […]

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The city of Houston learned this week that it will host the Super Bowl LI in early 2017, the first time in 13 years. In the lead-up to the announcement, there was a lot of talk about why it’s a good idea for the NFL to hold the Super Bowl here. There’s no doubt about the intangibles: it’s exciting for Houston to be in the national spotlight. But just what are the benefits and challenges of hosting such an event, and what’s the true economic impact? We had three guests discuss the implication of Houston hosting another Super Bowl.

  • Ric Campo, the chairman of the Houston’s Super Bowl 51 Bid Committee. He’s also CEO of Camden Property Trust, which owns and operates apartment complexes across the country.
  • Greg Ortale, the President and CEO of The Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau, and is also on the Super Bowl Bid Committee.
  • Victor Matheson, an Associate Professor of Economics at the College of the Holy Cross in Worchester, Massachusetts. He specializes in the economic impact of major sporting events, and back in 2006, he co-authored a report examining the NFL’s revenues claims for Super Bowl host cities. He concluded their numbers were dramatically inflated.


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