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Santa Clara<\/a>\u00a0and San Jose are expected to put on their own events and watch parties.<\/p>\n Some locals aren\u2019t surprised. Others see confirmation that the area is poised for a\u00a0repeat of the 2016 Super Bowl<\/a>, when San Francisco reaped most of the economic success while hanging Santa Clara County out to dry. The last time Santa Clara hosted a Super Bowl a decade ago, a study commissioned by the sports league found most of the $240 million economic Bay Area boost went to San Francisco, about 57%, while just 12% went to San Jose and 7% to Santa Clara.<\/p>\n The event is already\u00a0sapping Santa Clara County government resources<\/a>, as officials struggle with budget deficits while\u00a0planning security and public safety<\/a>\u00a0for the game with little hope for reimbursement. It\u2019s particularly challenging during a time of unprecedented and steep\u00a0federal funding cuts<\/a>.<\/p>\n \nContribute to Local News Matters\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just another Charlie-Brown-and-the-football moment for San Jose,\u201d Bob Staedler, a local business expert and land use consultant, told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cThere\u2019s no reason they couldn\u2019t host a fan fest at Plaza de Cesar Chavez. Some sort of a mini NFL experience. They could have given us one or two more things here. It\u2019s the little sibling problem.\u201d<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the Bay Area Host Committee declined to comment.<\/p>\n Left sitting on the sidelines<\/p>\n San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan<\/a>\u00a0has largely been the face of local preparedness for the games while Santa Clara\u2019s relationship with the NFL\u00a0is more icy<\/a>. He\u2019s taking the events snub in stride.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was anticipated \u2014 which is why we\u2019ve focused on creating our own exciting lineup of events,\u201d Mahan spokesperson Tasha Dean told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cFrom major concerts with national headliners to hundreds of watch parties and an incredible lineup of culinary experiences, we aren\u2019t concerned with the competition from San Francisco.\u201d<\/p>\n The city is banking on the notion that tourists will opt to go straight to Santa Clara County.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just another Charlie-Brown-and-the-football moment for San Jose. \u2026 They could have given us one or two more things here. It\u2019s the little sibling problem.\u201d<\/p>\n Bob Staedler, South Bay business expert<\/p>\n \u201cThere will be plenty of people who want to avoid hours of time in traffic and instead choose the ease of touching down at SJC, driving 10 minutes to Levi\u2019s Stadium and spending their time accessing the world-class experiences we\u2019re putting on right here in the South Bay,\u201d Dean said.<\/p>\n Mahan has worked to project San Jose as a world-class city on par with San Francisco. He touted the hiring of a city sports czar, Tommy O\u2019Hare, to ensure San Jose gets a large slice of the sports entertainment pie. Mahan even\u00a0traveled to New Orleans last year<\/a>\u00a0for a Super Bowl host city \u201chand-off.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite these efforts, Staedler said Mahan has been \u201coutclassed\u201d by San Francisco Mayor Daniel\u00a0Lurie. In September, Lurie stood alongside Bay Area Host Committee CEO\u00a0Zaileen Janmohamed<\/a>\u00a0and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell as they raised the\u00a0Super Bowl 60<\/a>\u00a0flag at San Francisco City Hall.<\/p>\n \u201cSan Jose needs to demand representation. The local legislative delegation needs to hold the 49ers accountable for all this stuff,\u201d Staedler said. \u201cIt needs to be spread out across the area.\u201d<\/p>\n Santa Clara overwhelmed by event planning<\/p>\n Instead of Santa Clara city officials feeling equally miffed at being left out, some are actually relieved. The reason ties back to the puzzling choice to place\u00a0Levi\u2019s Stadium in Santa Clara<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I\u2019m shy about having big events to overwork our police force,\u201d Santa Clara Councilmember Suds Jain told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cIt was a bad idea to put the stadium here \u2014 it takes about 100 police officers to manage the stadium. We only have 150 police officers. So, it\u2019s a huge burden on our police force to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n That doesn\u2019t mean Jain isn\u2019t conflicted. He said while Santa Clara isn\u2019t as willing to\u00a0subsidize Super Bowl events<\/a>\u00a0as San Jose and San Francisco, he still wants to see people\u00a0stay in Santa Clara hotels and attend local events<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I opposed the stadium coming here in the first place. Now I\u2019m seeing city staff are really, really preoccupied with organizing these events, so it\u2019s actually taking attention away from city business,\u201d Jain said. \u201cWhich is something I thought about before the stadium came here, but I didn\u2019t know it would be to this extent. It has really sort of taken over the city.\u201d<\/p>\n Contact Brandon Pho at\u00a0brandon@sanjosespotlight.com\u00a0or @brandonphooo on X.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1763167102_593_LNM-20250616-SJSPOTLIGHTLOGO-01.jpg\")
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FILE: Fans attend activities outside Levi\u2019s Stadium ahead of Super Bowl 50 in February 2016. The Super Bowl is returning to Santa Clara in 2026, but the NFL and Bay Area Host Committee are promoting events in San Francisco. (San Jose Spotlight file photo)<\/p>\n