• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, January 25, 2011

A new survey from the National Retail Federation predicts that come Feb. 6, Super Bowl partiers will spend $10.1 billion, with 171 million planning on watching the game--the most in the survey's history. Of those, 34.9 million--or 15% of viewers-- plan to host their own party, an increase from last year's 31.6 million. And 61.2 million, or 26.3%, plan to attend a game party, up from 58.8 million last year.

While the survey was fielded before the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers had earned their ticket to Dallas, it shows Americans are willing to spend more on the big day than they were a year ago. The survey, conducted by the NRF's Retail Advertising and Marketing Association, with BIGresearch, finds that the average consumer plans to spend $59.33 on game-related merchandise, apparel and snacks, up from $52.63 last year.

And that's not just on guacamole (although Americans are expected to eat about 80 million pounds of it on Game Day): Some 4.5 million say they will buy a new TV for the event, compared with 3.6 million who said they would last year, and the 2.7 million who said they would in 2009. And Best Buy says it is offering its best deals of the year, marking as much as $1,400 off some of its higher-end SONY sets. (Target, Walmart and Sears are also pushing big-screens for big savings on their websites.)