Giants Super Bowl Ticker Tape Parade Means Dollars, But How Much Is Debatable

The ticker-tape parade for the Super Bowl champion New York Giants Tuesday may have brought in as much as $38 million in additional spending on restaurants, souvenirs and transit to the city, according to the mayor’s estimates.

Looked at another way, that’s about $38 spent per parade-goer.

Jamie Bunch, from near West Point, N.Y., traveled to New York City with her six children and one young adult to get a glimpse of game MVP Eli Manning and the rest of Big Blue as the team made its way up Broadway. She said she planned to spend around $300 by the day’s end.

“We’re going to go get something to eat, our souvenirs and our train ride here,” said Bunch, who allowed her kids to cut class to attend the parade.

That comes out to $37.50 per person, very close to the city's estimate.

Corporate sponsors pay for part of the parade though the total cost remains unknown. But policing and cleanup are expensive, and the mayor has not released an estimate of the price-tag for wages and overtime.

It also counts many dollars New Yorkers would have spent anyway: they would ride the subway and buy lunch whether they played hooky from work to watch the parade or not.

John Tepper Marlin, a former chief economist for the New York City comptroller, said it's particularly hard to estimate the impact of impromptu parades because they are one-off events, unlike, for example, the U.S. Open.

"Almost any number between $5 million and $200 million could be generated as the economic impact," Marlin wrote in an email.

Nevertheless, Marlin said, the parade for the Giants is undeniably a net-positive, not only because of all the dollars spent, but also because it cements the relationship between the city, and the Giants, who play at a stadium across the Hudson River in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

"It's too bad all the tax money goes over to New Jersey," Marlin said.

With reporting by Stephen Nessen