No, there is no evidence that the Super Bowl is the world’s largest sex trafficking event.

Each year, various groups made up of local officials, organizations, NFL representatives, and law enforcement come together to fight human trafficking—particularly sex trafficking—before and during the Super Bowl. This year’s Super Bowl LVII in Phoenix is ​​leading the effort with the It’s a Penalty Campaign. It kicked off on January 23 with the support of several NFL stars and will run until the end of February.

These campaigns raise awareness among the local community in the Super Bowl host city on how to identify victims, and are often part of broader efforts by anti-trafficking organizations to widely disseminate information about human trafficking.

Many people pay particular attention to these efforts because of the long held belief that the Super Bowl is the world’s largest anti-trafficking event. In fact, “Super Bowl Sex Trafficking” has been a big hit in Google’s SERPs over the last month.

Is there any evidence that the Super Bowl is the biggest sex trafficking event in the world?

No, there is no evidence that the Super Bowl is the biggest sex trafficking event in the world.

Freedom Network USA and the Survive and Thrive Advocacy Center, two groups that help trafficking victims and survivors, and Polaris, the organization that runs the National Anti-Trafficking Hotline, say there is no evidence that the Super Bowl is the biggest event for sex. trade in the world.

“Human trafficking is not just a problem on Super Bowl night, it’s a problem 365 days a year,” a Polaris spokesperson said in an email. “There is little evidence to suggest a significant increase in sex trafficking on Super Bowl night. The national anti-trafficking hotline did not experience a noticeable increase in Super Bowl weekend phone calls from what is already daily, and any small spike in calls can most likely be attributed to greater awareness of human trafficking around the game. ”

The 2016 San Francisco Anti-Trafficking Task Force stated in its report that while the city used that year’s Super Bowl as an opportunity to reach out to the anti-trafficking community throughout the year, “there is no hard data linking the Super Bowl.” to an increase in human trafficking in the regions where the game takes place.”

Some anti-trafficking organizations say there is an increase in human trafficking during the Super Bowl, but agree that the Super Bowl is not the world’s largest sex trafficking event. In Our Backyard, a survivor-led anti-trafficking organization, made this conclusion in a 2022 Super Bowl report.

Wrote in our yard. “The truth is that human trafficking occurs 365 days a year throughout the United States and really increases when there is increased demand due to conventions and sports and recreational events that attract a predominantly male disposable income population.” But the organization also noted that claims that the Super Bowl is the biggest human trafficking event of the year are “myths.”

A 2018 Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) video highlights that sex trafficking, and more broadly human trafficking, is a year-round problem. In the video, the head of a youth sexual exploitation program in Hennepin County, where the Super Bowl was played in Minneapolis that year, said the county’s research found “a small spike” in online advertising being used by traffickers. , but no more than around other major events.

A 2016 Polaris blog post titled “The Super Bowl Myth” explained that while traffickers go where there is demand, they also change their tactics depending on where law enforcement is focusing their efforts. Given the connection to human trafficking that people associate with the Super Bowl, Polaris said law enforcement tends to dedicate more resources to combating human trafficking in the lead-up to and during the game.

Freedom Network USA adds that these local Super Bowl-centered trafficking awareness campaigns have not shown a lasting impact in reducing human trafficking in the area. This is why many organizations and government agencies emphasize that human trafficking occurs on a daily basis throughout the country, and not just during major events.

“However, data from the anti-trafficking hotline shows that sex and labor trafficking is a problem in every state, every day of the year, and cities across the country require long-term solutions to respond to this crime every day of the year. . , not just during the Super Bowl,” continued a Polaris spokesperson in an earlier statement.

Freedom Network USA states that the annual focus on sex trafficking also ignores and minimizes human trafficking, which is another common method of human trafficking. A 2019 Polaris blog post estimated that 16 million of the 25 million people involved in human trafficking worldwide are victims of labor trafficking.