For Gemma Farah, the Super Bowl is not just a televised sporting event, it’s a full-blown party.

Each year, about 70 to 80 friends and family members from all over the country gather at Farah’s Westlake Village home to watch the big game.

“They eat, they drink, and they make bets,” Farah said. “We have televisions going throughout the whole house.”

The party is both fun and expensive, Farrah said. “I probably spend around $2,000.”

With Super Bowl party hosts like Farah hitting the stores, it’s no wonder the local economy gets a little extra boost this time of year.

A ‘meaningful’ economic impact

Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor at Cal State Channel Islands, said the Super Bowl will make a “meaningful impact” on the local economy.

Sohn, a football fan, said that in the down economy people view the Super Bowl as a distraction from their “pain and misery.”

“It’s something we can all celebrate,” he said. “I think it’s good that we have football to boost our body, mind and the economy.”

Big screens

Many county business owners enjoy the extra cash the sporting event brings.

Joseph Akhtarzad, the owner of Video and Audio Center on Canwood St. in Agoura Hills, says his company sells 65 percent more big-screen televisions in January than in an average month. That’s 40 percent more than he sells in the holiday season.

Akhtarzad said many customers choose to rent televisions for the big game.

Renting a television can cost anywhere from $100 to $400 per day, depending on the size of the screen, Akhtarzad said.

To prepare for the Super Bowl season, Akhtarzad says he hires additional sales staff, sends email blasts and spends more on print and radio advertisements.

Avocados and pizza

Along with big screens, avocados— thanks to the popular party dip guacamole—are in high demand this time of year.

Bill Tarleton, the director of marketing and communication for the Oxnard-based avocado sourcing and selling company Mission Avocados, said Super Bowl season is “always a big deal.”

Super Bowl Sunday is “the biggest avocado day of the year,” Tarleton said. “We try to give (markets) the best deal we can to move more fruit.”

‘Crazy deals’

Pizzerias also see a rise in sales on the day of the game. According to the Washington, D.C.-based National Restaurant Association, about one in seven Americans—or 15 percent— will order takeout for the Super Bowl. Pizza and hot wings are by far the most ordered items.

Elke Brachtl, one of three managers of Papa

Johns on E. Daily Drive in Camarillo, said her business gets twice as many orders on Super Bowl Sunday than on an average day. Brachtl said the employees must work as a team to meet the high demand.

Adam Gindy, manager of Tony’s New York Pizza in Newbury Park, said it’s difficult for his small business to compete with “those big, crazy, deals” that larger operations offer on Super Bowl Sunday.

Still, the sales at his business increase about 15 or 20 percent.

Gindy says he schedules “a couple extra drivers and an extra person in the kitchen” on game day.

Super ratings

Beverly Kelley, a professor of communications at California Lutheran University, said a 30-second commercial will cost more than $3 million this year.

That number doesn’t include production costs, she said, adding that, though local companies can’t afford to run high-profile commercials during the game, some will benefit from the national ads.

“If you’re the local guy who sells Bridgestone tires, you benefit from the Bridgestone ad,” Kelley said.

The money-making aspects of the Super Bowl aside, for Farah its about people coming together to watch one of the top sporting events of the year.

“Let the best team win,” she said.