Population, office vacancy rates predict Super Bowl winner
By Jeff Adcox
With the Super Bowl right around the corner between the Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos, fans, pundits and just about everyone else will try and predict which team will hoist the Lombardi Trophy.
In a quasi-scientific approach, the U.S. Census Bureau and Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), a commercial real estate services firm, both think they have found the trend that predicts the Denver Broncos as the winner.
According to the JLL’s analysis of the last 13 Super Bowls, the city with the higher office vacancy rate has won the Lombardi Trophy 62 percent of the time, including last February when Baltimore (15.5 percent) edged San Francisco (11.8 percent vacancy).
This year, the overall vacancy rate in the Mile High city stands at 13.9 percent compared with 12.5 percent in the Emerald City, making the Broncos the firm’s favorite to win the crown.
Roger Staubach, who was the MVP of the 1972 game and is now the Americas Executive Chairman for JLL, believes that Peyton Manning may also have something to do with it.
“Peyton Manning is one of the greatest NFL quarterbacks of all time,” Staubach said. “I believe in our JLL formula, but more importantly, I also believe in Peyton and I know he’s going to get the job done for the Broncos and the great people of Denver on Sunday night.”
As for the Census Bureau, its’ research shows that in the past 14 years, the city with the smaller population has won 10 times or 71.4 percent.
Denver ranks 23rd on the list of the most populous cities in the U.S.
Seattle, as luck would have it, ranks 22nd, again giving Denver the slight edge.