Businesses in college towns like Ann Arbor and East Lansing bank on home football weekends for the huge influx of fans who spend money on hotels, restaurants, bars, shops, and even game-day parking at local residences or schools.
In a “normal” season with seven or eight home games, the economic impact has been found to be enormous. A study by East Lansing-based Anderson Economic Group (AEG) in 2007 of Big Ten football games in the state of Michigan found there were roughly 1.37 million in attendance at Michigan and Michigan State games and the direct economic impact was $88.