The College Football Playoff National Championship game won’t kick off until Monday night, and I have to say that ESPN has been the big winner of revenue with a lot of the bowl games on their network. Plus, the number of corporate sponsors and advertisers who paid millions of dollars to showcase their brand during college footballs biggest game. Outside of the Super Bowl, this has become one of the more prestigious sporting events. Not only that, the game will be huge in terms of economic impact for the city of Atlanta.
It has been reported that previous National Championship games have generated $100 million for the host cities. Even with this years’ National Championship game an essential home game for the University of Georgia, I don’t see why it wouldn’t generate that much for the City of Atlanta. This is a major event and big time event like this is great for cities to showcase themselves. This type of atmosphere has given Atlanta the opportunity to show off their city to people who have previously visited and encourage some people who haven’t been to Atlanta to visit.
This is huge for the city of Atlanta economically. Visitors will be spending money and enjoying the city for a few days. They will be staying in area hotels, dining at area restaurants, shopping, using UBER’s and so much more. The more money visitors spend, the move local taxes the city generates, the lower the taxes in that city will be for residents. Plus, this money will go to help repair roads, schools, economic development and to help promote the city to future tourists.
The metropolitan area of Atlanta has 7 million people in it, and nearly all of them are college football fans with a flag in their front yard. Atlanta is a big enough city that it can support six professional sports teams. With the University of Georgia in college football’s biggest game, the people of the state of Georgia will descend and the city of Atlanta, generating a huge economic boom.
Atlanta sits in the geographic heart of the SEC and the ACC, two of the conferences that make up the Power 5 conferences, and the two schools in the championship game are from the SEC. Metropolitan Atlanta is a college football recruiting hotbed as well. Coaches from universities across the nation are regularly in Atlanta, staying at the Atlanta Marriott Buckhead, recruiting kids. Of the 65 Power 5 schools, 54 of them listed a player from the Atlanta area on their 2017 roster.
Atlanta is certainly at the center of college football certainly as well. The sport is truly good for Atlanta. The city is the 4th biggest convention city in the nation, and the world’s busiest airport in Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. The ESPN show College GameDay is presented by The Home Deport, headquartered in Atlanta, another college football sponsor, Chick-fil-A is headquartered in College Park, with both using college football as a marketing vehicle for their brands.
All of this leads up to an historic night for Atlanta, not just on the football field, but in the revenue that the city will ultimately generate from the hosting college footballs biggest game.
