Preparing for Super Bowl Sunday: By the numbers

Super Bowl Sunday is an annual exercise in American excess, from rich ticket prices to even richer foods. A guide to the enormity of it all

Cowboys Stadium in North Texas is expected to hold 105,000 people during this Sunday's Super Bowl.
(Image credit: Getty)

The Super Bowl is all about excess: Big crowds, eye-poppingly expensive TV commercials, and of course, gut-busting consumption of pizza and buffalo wings. That the game is being played in Texas this year only adds to the spectacle. (Watch an AP report about the hoopla.) Here's a look at the circus that is Super Bowl XLV, by the numbers:

$10.1 billion

Total expected Super Bowl-related consumer spending this year

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$59.33

Amount the average consumer is expected to spend on Super Bowl merchandise and snacks this year, according to a survey by the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association

$52.63

Amount the average consumer spent on Super Bowl merchandise and snacks last year, according to the survey

106.5 million

U.S. viewers who watched the game last year, a Super Bowl record

51.7 million

Households that watched the game last year, the most for any television program ever, beating the 1983 finale of "M*A*S*H," which was seen in 50.2 million homes

61.2 million

Americans who are planning on attending a Super Bowl party this year

34.9 million

Americans who are planning to throw a Super Bowl party this year

35 percent

Boost in sales pizza chains see on Super Bowl Sunday. It's the most popular pizza delivery day of the year, topping Halloween, the day before Thanksgiving, New Year's Eve, and New Year's Day.

1 million

Number of pizzas Papa John's expects to sell on Super Bowl Sunday

2 million

Pounds of cheese Papa John's plans to use on Super Bowl Sunday

350,000

Pounds of pepperoni included on all those pizzas

4.5 million

Super Bowl viewers who say they will buy a new television for the game this year

25.8 percent

Share of viewers who say they watch the Super Bowl for the commercials

$3 million

Estimated cost of a 30-second Super Bowl ad this year

$250 million

Amount Fox, which is airing the game, is expected to take in from advertisers

450

SUV's donated by GM for "VIP duties" leading up to the game. All the vehicles were made at the nearby GM plant in Arlington, Texas

200,000

Out-of-town visitors expected in North Texas to watch the game or soak up the atmosphere

$202 million

Amount those visitors are expected to spend on hotels, rental cars, and other expenses in the North Texas area

3,000

Private security officers the NFL is lending North Texas to monitor any suspicious activity. Arlington Police Chief Theron Bowman maintains that this will be the safest Super Bowl ever.

2

Years that federal, state, and local officials have spent preparing their Super Bowl security plan. It includes bomb-sniffing dogs, horse-mounted cops, and a "roving robot camera called a 'throwbot' because it's so small it can be tossed through a window."

50

SWAT team members on hand with "Super Bowl experience"

25

Police dog teams the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms is contributing

19,000

Explosive compounds the security dogs are able to detect

103,985

Current record for highest Super Bowl attendance ever, set at 1980's Super Bowl XIV, at the Rose Bowl in California

105,000

High estimate of Sunday's Super Bowl crowd — including 95,000 fans in the stands, 5,000 people watching the game in the "Party Plaza" outside the stadium, and 5,000 staff and media

108,713

Attendance record at Cowboys Stadium (which opened in June 2009), set at the 2010 NBA All-Star Game last February

$295,000

Going rate on the ticket broker StubHub for a seat in Cowboys Stadium's Hall of Fame Suites

$200

Going rate to stand outside the stadium and watch the game on a giant screen

16

Percentage of Pittsburgh's average household income a Steelers fan would spend to visit Dallas and attend the Super Bowl "on the cheap," according to a Forbes estimate

Sources: Chicago Breaking Business, USA Today, WCSH6, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, WFAA, Forbes, NielsenWire, National Retail Federation

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