TOLEDO, Ohio — The National Retail Federation released a survey that shows Super Bowl fans across the U.S. will spend 17.3 billion dollars on gatherings this year. Businesses in Toledo are planning for the economic impact of Super Bowl LVIII.
Michael Knight, the Owner of Home Slice Pizza, a downtown Toledo pizzeria and sports bar, said they'll have special menus and drinks this Sunday. But Knight said they are only preparing for a small uptick in customers.
The U.S chamber of commerce also reports that Toledo's football fans will deliver $38 million on Super Bowl-related spending.
Food, dinks, apparel and decorations will be in high demand and the members of Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce said the Super Bowl can greatly impact small local businesses and their customers.
The businesses downtown said they have already prepared, and fans should create a plan before it's too late.
"We definitely will have more people down here especially those who live down here coming out," Knight said. "Obviously everyone down here does a chicken chunk and chicken wing special because that goes with football. A lot of big screens will be down for the game in most restaurants down here so definitely a little uptick in business because people are excited. Obviously, the teams matter too so two teams that aren’t really local right now probably wouldn’t help if the lions would have won it would have been crazy but they didn’t so."
In downtown Toledo some restaurants have plans to close ahead of Sunday's game. While restaurants like Home Slice pizza plan to fill the seats.
Other businesses you can expect to see open throughout the full length of the Super Bowl game include Dave & Busters, Chevy's, The Attic and Cock N' Bull.
Football fans are encouraged to call ahead to reserve a seat if they want to stay to watch the game.
Business should also plan to be short staffed. Toledo's chamber of commerce sent WTOL 11 a survey that say around 17 million people are expected call off Sunday and almost 19 million on Monday morning.
MORE SUPER BOWL CONTENT ON WTOL: