9 News: How much does Boulder's economy benefit from CU's football success?

September 18. 2023

“They say the city made $18 million last weekend,” Coach Prime said. 

It's a number shared during the broadcast on ESPN. 

“Last week, for the home game, there was an estimated $18 million regional economic impact,” play-by-play commentator Mark Jones said. 

But it's a number that needs a closer look. 

“$18 million is, kind of, an optimistic number. Good for the marketers and the Chamber [of Commerce] to come up with that kind of money,” MSU Denver Economics Professor Kishore Kulkarni said. 

Kulkarni does not doubt that Boulder benefits from the success of Coach Prime. He just doubts the dollar amount. 

“There is no real way of measuring the impact of just the game unless you take out the games of last year, the games of how much you were filling up the stadium without this notoriety of a football team,” Kulkarni said. “There are a lot of assumptions that we have to make to come up with a direct answer to that.”