If the Colts beat the Bears in Sunday’s Super Bowl, Indianapolis will have battered Chicago in more ways than one, according to an analysis from the Indiana University Business Research Center.
While most sports fans around the country are fixated on whether Rex Grossman can outplay Peyton Manning, the intellectuals at IU are more concerned about their two cities’ economies.
In the football game of economics, Chicago scores first. The Windy City has 7.6 million more residents than Indianapolis. The touchdown was questionable, though, because more people mean more crowded lines at retail stores, fewer parking spaces and more traffic.
Not to be intimidated, Indianapolis marches right down the field with a touchdown of its own. Fourteen minutes less of commuting time each day leaves 85 hours more per year for Indianapolis residents to do something other than sit in traffic.
With time running out, Indianapolis makes a two-point conversion to win the game. With homes costing $100,000 less and median income only $8,000 less, Indianapolis residents appear more likely to find affordable housing.
On further review, fewer than one-fourth of Indianapolis homeowners have a mortgage and monthly utilities that take more than 30 percent of their income. Meanwhile, more than one-third of Chicago homeowners fit that profile, meaning Hoosiers have more money to spend elsewhere.
Final score: Indianapolis 8, Chicago 7.
