Missing a home CFP game could have cost St. Joseph County about $36 million, officials say

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Notre Dame’s exclusion from the College Football Playoff was a tough ending for players and coaches. But local tourism leaders say the decision also came with a major financial hit for St. Joseph County.

Visit South Bend Mishawaka Executive Director Jeff Jarnecke said losing the chance to host a home playoff game in December likely meant missing out on roughly $36 million in local economic impact. That estimate is based on last year’s first-round playoff weekend against Indiana.

“To see those sorts of numbers and those gross revenue numbers across the county and for our hotels here – it continues to hold true. It was an early Christmas present for the county of St. Joseph so 36 million is accurate if not even probably more than that,” Jarnecke said.

Local leaders say Notre Dame is one of the region’s biggest economic drivers. It is reported the university generates $139 million in state taxes each year and the overall impact on the area surpassed $3 billion last year.

Tourism officials say football alone brings in about $214 million annually, including more than 305,000 overnight visitors each season. That helps generate about $1.2 million a year in hotel tax revenue.When Notre Dame hosted Indiana in December 2024, Jarnecke said hotel occupancy jumped nearly 392% during that playoff week.

Restaurants and bars also feel the surge. Amber Goddard, general manager at O’Rourke’s Irish Pub, said the home playoff weekend brought days of steady crowds.

“We were busy from Wednesday to Sunday,” Goddard said. “It was a little sad this year when we found out that we didn’t get that fifth through eight spots.”

The impact goes beyond sales. Football weekends often mean extra shifts for servers, bartenders, hotel staff, setup crews and catering teams. When a game disappears from the calendar, they say those hours and that pay can disappear, too.