The Bay Area is busting out its Super Bowl best this week, with a packed roster of parties, concerts, and fan events, including a full takeover of Moscone Center. Yeah, sure, the game takes place in Santa Clara, but San Francisco stands to benefit the most from the festivities.
While people who live here have been aware of the city’s resurgence, the big game allows SF to reveal to the rest of the nation that its “doom loop” days are over. Between the 1.3 million visitors (opens in new tab) and the many more (opens in new tab) who’ll see snapshots of the city on their screens (opens in new tab) leading up to and on game day, the Super Bowl will lock tens of millions of eyeballs to SF.
“You can’t buy the kind of advertising that we’re going to get all week,” said SF Travel CEO Anna Marie Presutti. TV broadcasts will be interspersed with cuts to the Golden Gate Bridge, cars winding down Lombard, cable cars making their way up California Street, and fog rolling over Twin Peaks. “The visuals are all going to be iconic San Francisco.”
SF Travel CEO Anna Marie Presutti anticipates that the visuals interspersed with the game will be “iconic San Francisco.” | Source: Morgan Ellis/The Standard
The gorgeous views just may encourage viewers who have not thought about SF since its pandemic-era despair was plastered all over the news to book a trip. Presutti expects “all the work we’ve done in the last two years” to “dispel any not-so-great perceptions” outsiders may still have about the city. “We expect to see some good tourism lift out of this afterward,” she said. “It makes San Francisco an easier sell.”
It helps that a large swath of the country has spent the past few weeks mired in snow and ice. “If nothing else, they’re going to be motivated by the weather, given everything that they’ve been experiencing, which is actually really good for us.”
The city will also lean into its tech persona. Visitors will be able to book a Waymo from the airport. At last, there will be free WiFi at BART stations (opens in new tab) (OK, only five of them for now). And the city is hosting an “innovation summit” (opens in new tab) at SFMOMA where Silicon Valley titans will regale attendees about AI and high-tech entertainment.
Celebrities and influencers will swarm the city too (opens in new tab), filling TikTok and Instagram feeds with their impressions of the city. (No confirmation on whether Taylor Swift will make an appearance (opens in new tab) at the party her fiance, Travis Kelce, is throwing with Sports Illustrated, but if she does, anywhere she goes will benefit from the free PR. (opens in new tab))
An economic ‘lifeline’
Meanwhile, the rich and famous are renting out lavish homes, and Airbnbs are getting snapped up too. Last year’s Super Bowl offers a hint on how much those rentals could bring to hosts and the city: Airbnb guests generated $13 million in revenue for New Orleans.
Ultimately, the financial benefit from the big game will be dispersed among big players and mom-and-pops, according to SMRI founder and CEO Kathleen Davis.
Downtown will swarm with visitors this week. | Source: Getty Images/iStockphoto
“It’s such powerful fuel for the economy,” she said. “We’re seeing an incredibly positive impact, both direct and indirect — there are so many small businesses that will see this boost too. This is a lifeline.”
Several bars and restaurants have received big-money buyouts. For example, Union Square’s expansive rooftop restaurant and venue Chotto Matte is fully booked for five days for related Super Bowl-related events.
“We expect it to be a great week,” said events director Carolina Data.
Accordingly, gig workers are picking up extra shifts, whether for barback roles or in logistics, according to SF-based job platform Instawork (opens in new tab), which found that Super Bowl-related jobs are driving a 12% increase in hourly pay.
Presutti, who will attend the game with a coterie of SF Travel customers and partners, expects that the Super Bowl — and the World Cup this spring — will banish the doom-loop narrative for good.
“When you turn the corner, you hit the gas, not the brakes,” Presutti said. “We’re hitting the gas.”