For the big game, America spends $14.1 billion, mostly for food and drink

You may have heard the figure that’s bouncing around about the big game in Houston: Americans will spend an eye-popping $14.1 billion dollars in purchases and activities related to the game.

Believe it or not, that’s actually down from last year, when the tab totaled $15.5 billion. So this year we’re saving more than $1 billion. Congratulations, America!

What’s that money being spent on?

• The vast majority — nearly 80% of that $14.billion — is on food and drink. Nachos. Hot Dogs. Six-Foot Sandwiches. And beer and soda. Millions of gallons of beer and soda.

• Other spending? about 11% goes for team apparel and merchandise. Those logo’ed shirts aren’t going to buy themselves.

• Decorations for parties, lawn signs and the like are almost 8 percent.

• New televisions account for 7.7% of the total spent. A lot of fans see this as a good time to upgrade to 4K, curved screens, HDR and just plain BIGGER screens.

• Furniture — mainly entertainment centers for those TVs — brings up the rear at 3.3 percent of the spending binge.

You might ask: Why so many football posts? In January 2017, we launched BigGameLending.com in honor of our hometown Atlanta team making it to the big game, and our sponsorship of big game talk and coverage on 92.9 The Game here in Atlanta.