> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Big game equals some big profits - URL: https://www.smdp.com/big-game-equals-some-big-profits/ - Published: 2008-02-02T16:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-24T18:17:26.000Z - Author: Melody Hanatani - Tags: Business, Santa Monica, #archive-import *Super Bowl drives sales* CITYWIDE While Fox expects to bring in big bucks thanks to the Super Bowl — charging millions of dollars per 30-second slot during the most watched American sporting event of the year — the wealth is also usually spread locally. For local businesses, the Super Bowl translates into huge profits for bars, pizza delivery joints, supermarkets, and in the past few years, electronics stores heavily stocked with high definition flat screen televisions. According to Chris Sternberg, a spokesman with Papa John’s, the pizzeria on average sells about 50 percent more pies on Super Bowl Sunday than any other Sunday of the year, resulting in approximately 750,000 pizzas and more than one million chicken wings. The Retail Advertising and Marketing Association’s 2008 Super Bowl Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey found that approximately 40 percent of Americans out of the nearly 225 million surveyed plan to watch the big game at a party, while only 4.7 percent intend to watch the New York Giants take on the New England Patriots at a bar or restaurant, though that figure is up from 4.1 percent last year. In the era of the high definition experience, more and more people might be opting to watch the big game at home. “It might not be as pronounced as it once was given the fact that people have the option of having a gigantic big screen HD television that offers amazing quality right in their own home,” said Dr. Jennifer Pate, a professor of economics at Loyola Marymount University. “Nationwide we tend to see a small increase in \[the sales of\] big screens,” Pate said. Eddie Borgwardt, the store manager at Startronics in Santa Monica, said just before the Super Bowl, television sales and entertainment system installations are usually on the rise, more so than any other major sporting event, including NBA playoffs in which the Los Angeles Lakers qualify. “There’s a little bit more hype with the Super Bowl than anything else,” Bogwardt said. He also attributed the increase in television sales to the drop in price the past few years. Whereas plasma televisions cost more than $10,000 when they first hit the shelves, most of the high definition sets can be purchase for as low as $1,800, depending on the size, the store manager said. With more people staying at home to watch the Super Bowl, grocery sales are also on the rise, according to Dave Heylen, spokesman with the California Grocers Association. The four-hour sporting event tends to make consumers crave chips and salsa and buffalo wings, sending them to the supermarket shelves. “We may even see a little more this year because of the state of the economy and people are eating in more,” Heylen said.“That will roll over in an event like the Super Bowl as well.” But David Houston, the co-owner of Barney’s Beanery, doesn’t believe that bar participation during the Super Bowl is in a downward spiral. Last year, the Third Street Promenade bar filled to capacity, which is around 300 people. The only other event that receives more attendance at the bar is when the Lakers are in the playoffs, Houston said. This year, Houston purchased nine new 50-inch HD television in anticipation of the Super Bowl, an event in which he will charge customers a flat $100 fee for all-you-can eat drinks and food. To Houston, the appeal with the bar is being able to watch the game with hundreds of other fans. “The first best thing to do is be there because you and a hundred thousand people scream their heads off,” Houston said. “The next best thing is to be in the bar and have 250 people screaming their heads off.” Sasha Choquette, a Santa Monica resident, said he is plan-ning to watch the game at his friend’s bar, The Yard on Broadway. “It’s better to go out with a lot of people,” Choquette said. “It’s a more festive atmosphere.” Others plan to savor the game experience in person. Chetan Bhandari, a former Angeleno who now lives in Hong Kong, flew to the United States just to watch his favorite team, the New England Patriots, in Glendale, Ariz. Bhandari, who moved to Hong Kong six months ago, is planning to take his young son, Axel, a Giants fan. “I think it will be a blow out (in favor of the Patriots),”the elder Bhandari said, smirking at his son who was wearing a Giants shirt. The rivalry will spill over in Santa Monica where both Rick’s Tavern, a New York-theme bar, and Sonny McLean, a Boston bar, are expected to be filled to capacity. “It’s awesome here,” Sam Fusaro, a bartender at Sonny McLean’s, said on Friday. “Every single person is a Patriots person, every single person knows each other from watching games with each other all year.” *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 2, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/020208.pdf?ref=smdp.com)