I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but this year, Super Bowl XLV was held in Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas—not too far from Ivie’s home office, which is also nestled in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. I’m from Virginia where we don’t have a professional football team, so the Dallas Cowboys were a foreign idea to me when I first moved here (I know—Dallas natives, you are shocked!). By now, I am quite used to the weekly football hype that comes around, but I wasn’t sure if anything could prepare me (or the residents of Arlington) for the game of the season that was headed our way!

The Super Bowl is arguably one of the biggest marketing events of the year, so I thought it would be fitting to take a look at the marketing efforts that went into this event at a local level. First and foremost, the Super Bowl is an extreme tourist attraction, and the Dallas area estimated 100,000 fans to arrive by air alone. These large crowds caused hotel prices and parking to be at a premium—with room prices at least 100% higher than average rates and parking for the game to be nearly $1,000 in some areas. These higher fees translated into increased tax revenue for Arlington and its surrounding cities, which in turn helped to pay for the increased law enforcement presence that was necessary for such a large event.

It wasn’t just fans that arrived for Super Bowl Sunday, though. ESPN rolled into Cowtown for continuing coverage beginning on January 31, and new Super Bowl parties were announced daily. There was certainly no shortage of Super Bowl-related events in which to participate in DFW, and local businesses also reaped the benefits of the Super Bowl. Many businesses offered their own “Super Bowl Promotions”—from wings to bowling—you name a product, and there was someone in the Dallas area with a Super Bowl promotion around it! Even environmentalists took advantage of Super Bowl hype. The Texas Tree Foundation put together a Super Grow XLV campaign where volunteers planted 6,500 trees across North Texas to offset the environmental impact of the Super Bowl.

So yes, despite the less-than-ideal weather, Dallas was as busy as ever, and it looked like a marketing playground for much of the last week! From a citizen’s perspective, it was a little much, but when I put my marketing hat on, it was truly a spectacle of which I am in complete awe (and I don’t even like football!).