Can office vacancies determine the winner of this Sunday’s Super Bowl match-up between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks? JLL thinks so, and it has the statistics to back it up.
According to JLL, NFL teams based in cities with higher office vacancy rates have won the Lombardi Trophy 60 percent of the time in the past 15 seasons, including seven straight years from 2000 through 2006.
Of course, there is one flaw in this prediction: Seattle broke this trend in 2014. When it won the Super Bowl last year, it had a lower office vacancy rate than did Denver. That didn’t stop the Seahawks from pummeling the Denver Broncos 43-8.
This year, Boston’s office vacancy rate is 14.7 percent while Seattle’s is 10.7 percent. Based on this statistic, the odds favor New England. Having Tom Brady at quarterback helps, too.
It’s little surprise that JLL would perform some heavy-duty research at Super Bowl team. JLL’s executive chairman of the Americas is former NFL All-Pro quarterback Roger Staubach. As quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, Staubach earned MVP honors in the 1972 Super Bowl.
Staubach is also picking New England to win the big game.
“The Patriots have been phenomenal all season, and Tom Brady is one of the all-time greats,” Staubach said in a written statement.
Midwest Real Estate News can’t tell you if the Seahawks will win because Seattle residents drink more coffee or that the Patriots will take home the trophy because Boston dwellers prefer white clam chowder. But we are confident enough to make our own predictions: We want Seattle to win, but we suspect that Brady and the Patriots will come out on top.
