DETROIT – The wave of Honolulu blue that swept downtown Detroit for Sunday night’s playoff game brought with it an economic boom for the City of Detroit.
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Visit Detroit projects fans spent a whopping $20 million that day alone at bars, restaurants, businesses and on hotels and parking. The economic impact of that single day is on par with the likes of Taylor Swift, Beyonce, The Detroit Grand Prix and Movement Festival says Chris Moyer of Visit Detroit.
The best part is that we get to do it all over again this Sunday when the Lions take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Ford Field.
“Their playoff run, the excitement in the city of Detroit, so many events, so many people want to visit for the first time or come back,” Moyer said. “Hotels are doing exceptionally well. We’re anticipating that hotel occupancy will be 25% higher than it would otherwise be. [Fans] don’t just want to come downtown they want to stay downtown and be part of the excitement!”
Dr. Rose Moten, a clinical psychologist who went to Sunday’s game against the Rams can attest to that. She says there were a sea of people who stayed to celebrate downtown, after the win.
“Here in the City of Detroit we’ve been on this emotional rollercoaster with no return on investment for 32 years,” says Dr. Moten, who went to her first Lions game Sunday night.
The win was notable in more ways than one. What she saw at Ford Field was fans connecting deeply to complete strangers.
“You think about this time of year, right? Where affective disorder, seasonal depression is at an all-time high,” Dr. Moten said. “We know we’re in an epidemic of loneliness and what we saw in that stadium is such connection, strangers high-fiving each other, people coming up that you didn’t even know.”
She says there is a scientific explanation for what fans experienced.
“When you are in a setting such as that, you’re seeing your sports team win, such a monumental win, such a surge of dopamine and adrenaline we are literally on a natural high,” Dr. Moten said. “It validated this sense of loyalty that emotional investment we put in and really helped to just solidify this sense of One Pride.”