[lawrence-newsletter]
Econsult Solutions Inc., a Philadelphia-based consulting firm, published an economic impact study last June that outlines how much the city of Madison and the entire state of Wisconsin would stand to lose if the Badgers are unable to play their football season.
The study outlines that Badger athletics as a whole create 2950 jobs, $395 million in revenue and $1.7 million in tax revenue impact for the city of Madison each year, and 4480 jobs, $610 million in revenue and $12 million in tax revenue impact for the state of Wisconsin as a whole.
Furthermore, the study says that each Badger home football game brings in a total of $16 million in total economic impact for the state of Wisconsin, this obviously including the 584,900 people who came to Madison for home games in 2017 and the economic impact they had on the city and its surrounding areas.
Now, its obvious that this economic impact would be affected by the Badgers playing their season without fans, as nearly 100,000 people wouldn’t be buying tickets, parking and concessions during the event.
This affect is seen clear-as-day in page 27 of the report, showing that Badger football games attract 580,000 visitors. $1.7 million in hotel revenue, a total of $78.3 million in economic impact from those visitors and support a grand total of 1080 jobs statewide.
Through this study, though, its clear that even without fans Wisconsin athletics has a profound economic impact on the entire state, and the lack of a college football season would have a massive negative impact on both Madison’s economy and on the state’s economy as a whole.
College football games at Camp Randall Stadium are many people’s favorite time of year. For football fans it’s an opportunity to watch their favorite team play and be a part of a massive society of Badger fans both nation and worldwide. For non-football fans even, game days in Madison represent a time to get together with friends and experience the school spirit, state spirit and overall community that Badger football creates.
What is now apparent is that aside from people’s team allegiances or plans to watch the games with friends, Wisconsin football and Wisconsin athletics as a whole have a significant economic impact on both the city of Madison and on the state of Wisconsin, and a season without Badger football would have profound negative affects that would be felt for years to come.