Cost of the Super Bowl

Millions across the globe will be tuning in for the 59th Super Bowl (LIX) in New Orleans, where the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Philadelphia Eagles! 

Here at Parbery, we have some NFL fans. Our very own Sam Lemin, who is part of our Project Controls team, has decided to break down some of the numbers and figures that goes in behind the scenes for the sporting phenomenon

Here is a breakdown of how much it costs to advertise, the famous halftime show, and various elements of the capstone event for the NFL season.  

Question: How many people watch the Super Bowl?  

The Super Bowl has captured a global audience and gains popularity year on year as the sport grows in popularity and the festivities and traditions associated with it also grow in popularity.  

Last year’s Super Bowl was the most watched ever with 123.4 million average viewers in the USA and over 62 million people outside the USA (of which 2.7 million Aussies watched). This amount of people broke the record for the most watched telecast in US history beating the Super Bowl from the year prior to claim the title.  

With 123.4 million average viewers and 202.4 million having at least watched part of the Super Bowl, this works out to 36.85% of the US population having watched the entire Super Bowl and 60% having watched part of it!  

By comparison, Australia’s most watched telecast was the Australia vs England semifinal for the Women’s FIFA World Cup in 2023, which had a reported average of 7.13 million viewers and a total of 11.15 million viewers at any one point (27% of the Australian population on average watched with 42% being the total). 

In the USA, the Super Bowl takes up 19 out of 20 of the most watched telecast events in US history with the final episode of M*A*S*H being the first program (at #11) the odd one out.  

Cost for the Aussie superfan 

With the Super Bowl, no expense is spared for people who want to attend the big event. Tickets are notoriously expensive with a single ticket costing $8,000 AUD or more! If an NFL superfan were to attend, it would cost nearly $16,000 dollars to attend with hotels and flights.  

A breakdown of the categories can be found below: 

Cost of advertising at the Super Bowl 

The Super Bowl is well-known not only for being the top event on the American football calendar, but also for all the notable advertisements that go along with it! People will watch the Super Bowl to simply watch the adverts. Advertisers shell out a large sum for the privilege with a mere 30 seconds of screen time in 2024 costing roughly USD $7 million (AUD ~$11.27M)!  

Many go above and beyond this, with Google and Amazon having each spent USD $16.8 million (AUD ~$27M) each in 2020 for their own adverts to tie the record for most spent on an ad. This insane cost is roughly a premium of nearly 800% with the average cost for the same spot during the regular season on Sunday Night Football costing only USD $828,000 (AUD ~$1.3M).  

To put this all in perspective, a similar slot during Australia’s most watched sporting spectacle, the AFL Grand Final, cost advertisers approximately AUD $215,000 for the same 30 seconds, albeit only to a domestic audience that is 30 times smaller (4 million viewers in 2024).  

Cost of the Halftime Show 

Another element of the Super Bowl that non-football fans look forward to is the halftime show. Although performed back in the day by marching bands of various colleges, during the 1990s major pop artists began taking centre stage and transformed the segment into one watched by millions worldwide.  

This year, Kendrick Lamar headlines the Super Bowl halftime show and his performance is projected to cost between USD $13-15 million (AUD $21 – $24M) to do so. Strangely enough, Kendrick himself will see very little of this money (only USD $1,000 per day and travel expenses covered). The rest of the money goes towards clothing, production, logistics, dancers, and everything else in between!  

However, despite the small payment for the performance, artists who perform at these shows have seen meteoric rises in music sales and popularity. Previous years’ artists report nearly an estimated 500% or more increases in sales following their performance.  

Cost of the Super Bowl Championship Ring 

Waiting at the end of the Super Bowl for the winning team is not only eternal glory and confetti but also custom Super Bowl Rings! It has become a tradition in US major sporting finals that the championship team are awarded with celebratory rings denoting their achievement.  

These rings don’t come cheap, with an estimated USD $30,000-50,000 spent per ring and anywhere between 300 to 900 total rings produced for the 53-man roster, staff and personnel. Although not every ring commands the full price as there are grades of rings distributed among the total cohort, teams pay nearly USD $5 million for the production of the rings.  

These rings can command a large sum on the aftermarket. The owner of the New England Patriots Robert Kraft sold his Super Bowl LI Owner’s ring in 2020 for over USD $1 million, the proceeds of which went to a COVID fundraiser!

By Sam Lemin, Senior Manager