Economic boom or bust? Mixed reviews for Super Bowl in Santa Clara
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (KTVU) - City officials in the South Bay called the Super Bowl a success. The Mayor of Santa Clara called the impact on the region profound, but at least one San Jose institution said game week was a bust.
A day after hosting one of the biggest sporting events of the year, with a record 83,000 people inside Levi's Stadium, city officials in Santa Clara are patting themselves on the back.
"What a great day, the day after being able to host an iconic event that will only come once in our lifetime that was seen throughout the world and boy did we shine," said Santa Clara Mayor Jamie Matthews.
Matthews announced his retirement just one day after Super Bowl.
"The city of Santa Clara proved to the entire world and showed the entire world how to host a Super Bowl," said Santa Clara Police Chief Michael Sellers.
Officials were proud of how well the South Bay region came together from the high level security at the game, with 20 arrests, to VTA transporting 10,000 passengers each way without problems. According to a city spokesman from San Jose, tourists made their way to San Jose.
"It's a win in a lot of ways," said City of San Jose Spokesman David Vossbrink. "People had a good time. We had a lot of activity in downtown San Jose, San Pedro Square, San Pedro Street, Cesar Chavez."
While the economic impact from the Super Bowl won't be known for weeks, the city of San Jose expects a $1.25 million boost in hotel tax revenue alone. The city hopes to profit or at least break even given the cost of police overtime.
"We got our hopes up for big business and it didn't really come," said Gary Pomeroy of Original Joe's.
At Original Joe's in San Jose, a business in downtown since 1956, the restaurant over staffed for the Super Bowl only to have one of the worst weeks of the year. It's surprising since it's a block away from where the Carolina Panthers stayed at the San Jose Marriott.
"The regulars we normally have they were deterred to come down because they were assuming it was going to be really busy around here," said Pomeroy. "They wouldn't be able to get a seat and other people who were coming into town were going to other places."
According to Pomeroy, chatter around downtown San Jose is that other restaurants also had a slow week. Yet overall, organizers say the region pulled together calling the big game good exposure and experience.