Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson hefts the George Halas Trophy after defeating the Green Bay Packers 28-22 in overtime to win the NFC Championship on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2015, at CenturyLink Field in Seattle. (Dean Rutz/Seattle Times/TNS)
The two No. 1 seeds in the NFC and AFC will meet in the desert on Feb. 1 to decide Super Bowl XLIX. Fortunately for the state of Arizona, this battle between the Seahawks and Patriots, two football titans, will rake in an immense profit.
Because of the state of Arizona's proximity to Washington (1,422 miles) as opposed to Green Bay (1,839 miles), more fans will be willing to shell out and make the trip to the big game rather than root for their team from the comfort of their own home. Seahawks fans are also more likely to be able to afford the trip to Arizona. The median household income in Green Bay is $52,115. In Seattle, it's $70,227.
Financial security aside, the significance of this game for the best and loudest fans per capita in the NFL is gargantuan. After bringing home the first Lombardi in franchise history last year, the Seahawks seek improbable back-to-back Super Bowl victories. Another note: The Seahawks Road Crew, a gathering of Seahawks fans who travel to every road game, has more than 2,600 followers on Twitter.
The New England Patriots, a historically great franchise and the NFL's one true dynasty from 2000-10, provide a notoriety of sorts that will create additional buzz about the game. This will influence unbiased football fans to come watch football's established royalty play Seattle, an NFL dynasty in its fetal stages. Both fan bases are loyal, but Patriots fans are so passionate, JetBlue has added extra flights to compensate for the mass of them traveling to Arizona.
The star power of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and head coach Bill Belichick is just one of many storylines on the New England side. With the NFL investigating whether the Patriots used intentionally deflated balls during the AFC title game, "Deflategate" adds a sort of thickness to the plot.
Don't sleep on big names from Seattle, either. Cornerback Richard Sherman is a flat-out superstar. When he's not blowing up Twitter through his beef with Arizona Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson, giving one of the most iconic post-game interviews ever or starring in a Beats By Dre commercial, Sherman is, by more accounts than his own, the best corner in football. His teammate Russell Wilson gave Erin Andrews a pretty memorable post-game interview as well, and that moment was indicative of the man Wilson is –– just look at his weekly visits to children's hospitals in Seattle.
You have Brandon Browner of the Patriots going against his former team, Pete Carroll going against the team that fired him long ago and the opportunity for the Seahawks to defeat the two best quarterbacks of this generation in consecutive Super Bowls. Those storylines alone will make for a highly rated game on TV and, more importantly, increase attendance at both the game and related events.
The tourism that goes along with hosting the Super Bowl will likely bring in hundreds of millions for the Phoenix metropolitan area and the state of Arizona. Downtown Phoenix (especially in areas near the Downtown campus) will be abuzz with flocks of tourists inhabiting local hotels, restaurants and shopping centers. While much of the investment tourists make will be in the products and services of big corporations, including the NFL, local businesses will undoubtedly see a much-needed spike in revenue over the next couple of weeks.
From the clout of the teams participating, to the endless storylines involved, to the profitability of everything associated with the game, Super Bowl XLIX is a phenomenal scenario for the city of Phoenix and the state of Arizona.
Reach the columnist at rclarke6@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @RClarkeASU
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