Jim and I recently attended Super Bowl XLIV in South Florida. The NFL is a client of VM Foundry and we were happy to take part. We all think of the Super Bowl as the biggest football game in the world but it is also one of the largest marketing events of the year. Most people recognize the sports marketing angle of the game but may miss out on the leisure travel aspects. Physically attending the event provided a unique perspective into the powerful tourism opportunities generated by the Super Bowl and similar sporting events. It was immediately apparent that the bulk of attendees were not from the nearby area, but rather had traveled long distances and were making serious investments to attend.

The Tampa Bay Business Journal reported a number of findings which I found stunning: