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On Super Bowl Sunday, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning will likely be going deep to wide receivers Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne.
If the Colts win Feb. 4, team owner Jim Irsay also will be going deep-into his pocket.
Contrary to popular belief, winning the Super Bowl is not a huge financial windfall-at least not in the near term for the team and its owner.
In a quirk of NFL economics, expenses rise and revenue falls for playoff teams, sports economists said.
But there are measures teams can take to make the championship run pay.
If history is any indicator, a Super Bowl XLI victory for the Colts will mean a significant ticket increase for the team's fans.
Seven of the last 10 Super Bowl champs have increased ticket prices the following year more than 10 percent, and four of those raised ticket prices more than 20 percent.
And with good reason. Eight of those 10 teams reported a double-digit increase in either season-ticket sales or the length of their season-ticket waiting list. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers saw their season-ticket waiting list grow a whopping 60 percent following their first Super Bowl victory, in 2003.
Ticket-price increases are one of several means by which Colts officials could seek to offset Super Bowl expenditures, sports marketers said. Colts officials were not available for comment.
"They'll try to leverage this into not only ticket sales, but things like sponsorships, suite sales and stronger local TV and radio deals," said Milt Thompson, president of Grand Slam Cos., a locally based sports marketing consultancy. "It will be incumbent upon the team to be creative enough to maximize their revenue from this."
Pain and gain
Balancing long-term opportunities and challenges generated by the success of a Super Bowl run will demand the attention of Irsay and his top front-office lieutenants in the coming months.