Enplanements at Indianapolis International (IND) jumped sharply in the first two weeks of February as crowds descended on the city for the Super Bowl. Travelers appeared to be in the mood to spend and celebrate, with concessionaires enjoying record sales.
“Typically at this airport we have $10-$11 in revenue per enplaned passenger,” says Jeremiah Wise, retail director for the Indianapolis Airport Authority. “On the [same] Monday a year ago it was a little bit soft, about $8-9. For Super Bowl Monday it was close to $30 per enplanement.”
Enplanements on Super Bowl Monday came in at about 24,000, which is nearly 50% higher than IND’s previous record day, and more than double a typical Monday at the airport, Wise says.
Wise says all concessions segments recorded significant gains. Food and beverage revenues jumped to about $180,000 on the Monday following the 2012 Super Bowl, compared to about $50,000 on the same Monday a year earlier. News and gift revenues went from about $15,000 to $110,000 on Super Bowl Monday, while specialty retail revenues jumped to nearly $100,000, from $15,000.
“Pop-up” specialty stores selling mainly Super-Bowl and sports-related merchandise brought in a whopping $350,000 in revenues on the single Monday following the Super Bowl.
“We had several large format pop-up locations run by The Paradies Shops as well as by Lids,” Wise says. “They were all large-format stores. One in our Civic Plaza was probably about 1,500 square feet of space, which is bigger than most airport specialty retail stores to begin with. Then we had other ones that were 500-700 square feet each. By being able to utilize that space we were able to really offer something special.”
Super Bowl memorabilia was a hot category in the standard news and gift locations as well. “We saw doubling or tripling of sales in the news and gift locations, particularly those that had a good display of Super Bowl merchandise,” Wise says.
In specialty retail, one location in particular had a remarkable sales boost due to sales of a few high-ticket items. The Collector’s Den, a company selling sports memorabilia, was a favorite among Super Bowl travelers.
“They sold a lot of autographed items including a framed, autographed [photo of] Tom Brady for about $2,000,” says Wise. “Some of those big-ticket items you may sell from time to time in any event, but with the Super Bowl crowd coming in we saw a lot more of those types of purchases.”
On the food and beverage side, Wise says some restaurants recorded sales four times higher on Super Bowl Monday compared to a typical Monday. Spend per enplaned passengers rose to more than $7, compared to about $5.25 on the same day a year ago.
Wise says travelers appeared to be in the mood to splurge a bit. For example, Wise says that at Harry & Izzy’s, a higher-end steakhouse, steaks, salmon and shrimp cocktail were in much higher demand than during “normal” times, when burgers are more commonplace.
Part of the reason could be that the Super Bowl attracts a well-heeled customer, but Wise also attributes the shift to the celebratory atmosphere. “These are folks who have had a good time all week,” he says. “It was the end of their trip. To have that last good meal before they got back to where they were going I think was something this particular traveler was looking for – it was the capstone of the weekend.”
Beyond the sales generated, Wise says airport operations went smoothly throughout the week surrounding the Super Bowl.
“The wait time with TSA never got above 18 minutes even at the peak time – that’s a testament to them,” he says. “Everyone got through security quickly and the concessionaires were able to accommodate folks.”
Wise was initially concerned about seating for passengers, particularly for those buying meals. The airport banned any employees from using public seating during the Super Bowl rush, and in the end, all passengers could be accommodated.
IND also temporarily increased the bandwidth of its free wi-fi and brought in additional charging stations for passenger convenience. It also had entertainment, with a temporary stage and various displays.
