"a little over half of which are in that bright sliver of Midtown, while the other half are strewn across the country supporting Times Square operations from designing the content on the signs to keeping the power plants that power them on line."
Except that those power plants power the entire city, not just Times Square, so counting all their employees as part of Times Square's contribution to the economy isn't accurate. A single 50-story office building probably draws more power than all the LEDs in Times Square - for lighting, cooling, ventilation, elevators, computer and electronic equipment, etc.