The Game Is On

Demand for temporary workers spiked as football fans from all over the country flooded Indianapolis for the big game. Hosting Super Bowl XLVI is a unique opportunity for the city of Indianapolis and the state of Indiana.

The Super Bowl is the most valuable sporting event in the world. It generates hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue — an important, albeit short-lived, burst of economic activity in a somewhat slow economy. It also underpins society’s current need for contingents as the staffing industry navigates both opportunity and backlash.

But the game is on. Contingents are in demand. One staffing firm was tasked with filling 1,000 jobs in hospitality, housekeeping, food service and food prep, snow removal and tent set-up and clean-up. It was reported that those hired were credentialed for free parking and shuttle services to the Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium for the Super Bowl and its related events.

It’s not all paychecks and free parking, though. More than a dozen workers in Indianapolis recently filed suit against Hospitality Staffing Solutions, an employment agency for hotels, alleging that they have been underpaid and their attempts to find work elsewhere interfered with. These allegations come at a time when hotels are on the hot seat for price gouging.

Of course, major sporting events of this character happen all the time. The contingent hiring for the Super Bowl suggests a broader opportunity for staffing firms and maybe even a relative advantage for sports-inclined staffing professionals, perhaps a way to live the dream of, if not actually playing on the field, being a part of the action.

Know of a major sporting event in your area? Any event of this character is going to need a lot of temporary staffing. So maybe the thing to do is to sell to the organizers, and just maybe they will throw you a couple of tickets in the bargain.