Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Jan-Dec:3:10.1177/2378023117718122.
doi: 10.1177/2378023117718122. Epub 2017 Jul 6.

"Super Bowl Babies": Do Counties with Super Bowl Winning Teams Experience Increases in Births Nine Months Later?

George M Hayward  1 , Anna Rybińska  1
Affiliations

"Super Bowl Babies": Do Counties with Super Bowl Winning Teams Experience Increases in Births Nine Months Later?

George M Hayward et al. Socius. 2017 Jan-Dec.

Abstract

Following the claim of a highly publicized National Football League (NFL) commercial, we test whether the Super Bowl provides a positive exogenous shock to fertility in counties of winning teams. Using stadium locations to identify teams' counties, we analyze the number of births in counties of both winning and losing teams for ten recent Super Bowls. We also test for state effects and general effects of the NFL playoffs. Overall, our results show no clear pattern of increases in the number of births in winning counties nine months after the Super Bowl. We also do not find that births are affected at the state level or that counties competing in the playoffs are affected. Altogether, these results cast doubt on the NFL's claim that winning cities experience increases in births nine months after the Super Bowl.

Keywords: Super Bowl; birth rates; fertility; football; sporting events.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Timeline of Each Season in Sample1
1Data used for each season is shown in a gray bar, which is a span of three years beginning and ending in April. Gold cells indicate Super Bowls, which all take place in February, and green cells indicate the focal October of interest.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Archer John. Testosterone and Human Aggression: An Evaluation of the Challenge Hypothesis. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews. 2006;30(3):319–45. - PubMed
    1. Ashby Kevin. Berlin Final Captures the World’s Imagination. UEFA. 2015 Retrieved April 14, 2017 ( http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/newsid=2255318.html)
    1. Bernhardt Paul C, Dabbs James M, Jr, Fielden Julie A, Lutter Candice D. Testosterone Changes during Vicarious Experiences of Winning and Losing Among Fans at Sporting Events. Physiology & Behavior. 1998;65(1):59–62. - PubMed
    1. Brady Nicole. Super Bowl Babies Arrive 9 Months After Broncos’ Win. Denver7 - The Denver Channel. 2016 Retrieved April 14, 2017 ( http://www.thedenverchannel.com/sports/broncos/super-bowl-babies-arrive-...)
    1. Brunvand Jan H. The Baby Train: And Other Lusty Urban Legends. New York: W. W. Norton & Company; 1993.