CFP Championship provided much needed hospitality tourism boost
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA report issued last week revealed that the 2022 College Football Playoff National Championship Game and related activities in Indianapolis generated $156.6 million in overall economic output, about $6 million more than anticipated. But organizers say it’s important to look at where the spending occurred, specifically Indy’s hospitality and tourism sector, that had been decimated by the pandemic.
2022 Indy College Football Playoff Inc. President Susan Baughman says the event provided a much-needed spark when it was needed most.
“It was $53 million that went directly into the pockets of workers in the downtown hospitality industry,” said Baughman. “That was a really good boost as far as bringing people back to work and knowing they were going to have consistency in January and going forward.”
On this weekend’s edition of Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick, Baughman talked about the economic impact of the event and prospects for getting another championship game in the future.
The report, conducted by Maryland-based Rockford Analytics and commissioned by local organizers, also found the event generated substantial media exposure for Indianapolis.
It estimates there were more than 1,000 media visitors who attended the event and that the region benefitted from more than $34 million in media attention. Meantime, viewership for the Alabama-Georgia game, at 22.6 million, was the largest non-NFL audience in history.
