The Super Bowl. Enough Said.

As a kid growing up in Australia, like many of my peers I dreamed to one day grow up be a professional athlete and represent my country at the Olympics, Lords or Wembley. Injury ended my rugby career so the best I could hope for was representing Australia at the Geek Olympics, but we digress! As a sports lover, it was tough being so far away from the action because we didn't have cable television then so the best we could hope for were Saturday highlights of a month-old Chicago Bulls game (rarely my beloved Boston Celtics), a delayed satellite feed very early in the morning each April to watch The Masters at Augusta or live coverage very late at night thru the wee hours of the morning each June for the green grass at Wimbledon.

The Super Bowl. Enough Said.

However, each year there was one major international sporting event beamed live at a reasonable hour that made me feel part of something much, much bigger. Like, part of the wider world beyond our distant land far, far away. American football or gridiron or the NFL was not really "a thing" where I grew up (I played and loved Rugby) but for some reason the public broadcaster would show the annual Super Bowl which would be live every Monday morning thru lunchtime, due to the 14-hour time difference. Each year, "Super Bowl Monday" would be a big day in the calendar for many sports-obsessed kids in Australia not only craving live sports content to watch at a reasonable hour, but also to feel connected the big wide world out there. And, the Super Bowl with all its glitz and glamour and show business and entertainment, combined with something called "American football" - a sport I knew very little about, mind you - made for something special each year to look forward to. My parents lived in Boston before I was born, so I followed my Dad's lead and embraced Boston sports teams - Celtics, Patriots, Red Sox (by default, although I'm not really a baseball fan) - naturally this affinity makes me very unpopular with my mates living in New York but at least they embrace the friendly rivalry when the Celtics, Patriots or Red Sox come to town.

Watching a Super Bowl - live - is on my Bucket List. Moreover, I soon realized it's like a whole week of festivities and was even called, Super Bowl Week. But I also didn't realize that each year it's a new host city, as I grew up and became interested in business for my career, the economics and the business side of it was absolutely fascinating to me and just as interesting as the game itself. Perhaps more so! This year, the New England Patriots will meet the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII (52 for the non-Roman numerals inclined) that will take place this Sunday February 4th @ U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, MN. At stake is the historic Vince Lombardi Trophy, named in honor of the winning coach of the first two Super Bowls. The trophy is made by Tiffany & Co, stands almost 22 inches (55 cm) tall and weighs 107 ounces (3 kgs). It's worth more than $25,000 to produce but priceless to receive.

For me, this is also the 5th Super Bowl since being in the U.S. and 3rd featuring the Patriots. Let's hope they keep their winning streak alive.

Halftime Show

Justin Timberlake will headline the Pepsi Super Bowl LII Halftime Show this year. Timberlake has won ten Grammy's and this will be his third time performing on the Super Bowl Halftime stage, giving him the distinction of having the most appearances by an individual entertainer. I'm not that musically inclined and have to admit all I really remember about him is playing early Facebook investor Sean Parker in The Social Network movie. But I'm sure he'll do just fine on Sunday!

Fun fact: The Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show is the most-watched musical event of the year. Last year's show was the most-watched musical event of all-time - across all platforms - and was the most-watched Super Bowl Halftime performance in history. The broadcast via traditional and digital channels reached more than 150 million unique people, garnering more than 80 million views and totaling 260 million minutes watched.

Show me the money

The Super Bowl is a big business. It's competitive, costly and, it turns out, increasingly advantageous for the NFL. Each city must comply with the detailed "NFL Super Bowl Host City Bid Specifications & Requirements" given to viable and interested candidates. Often times cities throw in some public money to help smooth the logistics and hosting with the knowledge that hosting the Super Bowl will bring in millions of dollars in priceless media exposure, tourism, hospitality and investment. In 2013, New Jersey and New York spent a combined $70 million hosting the Super Bowl that was played at The Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J. Considering the exposure for the city, one could argue that's a relative bargain.

The cost-benefit analysis for host cities vying for the honor has been the subject of numerous economic feasibility studies. Depending on a range of variables and glowing projections typically the estimate ranges in the $200 - $500 million of economic impact on the local, regional and state economies in which the game is played. The 2015 Super Bowl played in Arizona produced a gross economic impact of $719.4 million for the entire state, according to a study from Seidman Research Institute and the School of Business at Arizona State University. This was a more than 30% increase from the last time Arizona hosted the Super Bowl. Worthwhile investment, indeed.

Super Bowl LII marks Pepsi's sixth year as title sponsor of the Super Bowl Halftime Show and 16th year as an NFL partner and rumors are that the actual show itself costs Pepsi an estimated $10 million - on top of their naming rights sponsorship. But what makes the Super Bowl even more entertaining is annual release of the most innovative and entertaining ads with brands vying for the hundreds of millions of eyeballs eagerly awaiting for the best new creatives. These ads aren't cheap.

Cost of 30 second commercial: $7.7 million

Social Media

Here's the fascinating Twitter Analytics data for the Super Bowl last year.

Who's gonna win on Sunday???

Jeremy K. Balkin is the award-winning author of Millennialization of Everything: How to Win When Millennials Rule the World (RMB 2017)

Disclaimer: views my own.