Super Bowl Editorial
By Joanne DiBona
In just a few weeks, the eyes of the world will again be on San Diego when it plays host to Super Bowl XXXVII on January 26.
The Super Bowl is more than just a game—it’s a mega corporate event and catalyst for business development. You’ve probably read about the tangible monetary impact this event will bring to our region. While the economic benefits of hosting the NFL’s showcase event and the weeklong revelry that precedes it are difficult to predict, we are optimistic that when the last Super Bowl visitors depart, they will have left behind more than $300 million in economic impact for our region.
Super Bowl visitors are not just your average visitors. Fifty-nine percent of the people who come to the game are decision-makers within their corporations. While they are here, they will have a first-hand opportunity to experience San Diego’s top-notch facilities, our warm hospitality, a sophisticated metropolis, outstanding climate and breathtaking scenery. All these positive impressions will contribute to a top-of-mind awareness of our region as a first-tier convention destination when these decision-makers begin to think about a site for their next meeting.
Super Bowl visitors also have deeper pockets and much more to spend. The median household income of the average San Diego visitor is approximately $68,000; Super Bowl visitors average $110,000. This spending will make itself felt throughout Super Bowl week when these visitors descend upon San Diego to stay in our hotels, ride in our taxis, eat at our restaurants, host parties in our venues, and buy souvenirs and other merchandise in our retail stores.
According to a PriceWaterhouseCoopers study, 122,000 people visited San Diego for Super Bowl XXXII in 1998 --yet 56,700 of those people didn't even attend the game! They were here for the dozens of ancillary events that took place throughout the week and to share in the overall excitement that pervaded the entire region. From National Football League officials to corporate sponsors, from dedicated fans to national and international media representatives, San Diego had something to offer each of these diverse groups in the way of entertainment, accommodations and activities.
As we saw in 1998, Super Bowl week is truly about creating special events-- and San Diego couldn't be better positioned to take on this challenge since we boast a wide variety of outstanding venues throughout the county as well as our first-class expanded Convention Center. Our center is perfect for large-scale NFL events: it is a secure, state-of-the-art facility and boasts an expansive grand ballroom and covered sails area in addition to spacious outdoor terraces and smaller party venues. Not to speak of a view and location that make our convention center the envy of many of our convention destination competitors! Dining out is, of course, a significant part of the overall Super Bowl experience. San Diego, boasting 6,400 restaurants that offer everything from new taste sensations to traditional favorites, will also be well prepared to offer a variety of culinary experiences to Super Bowl visitors. San Diego is home to world-class chefs, eleven of whom demonstrated their talents last year at the famed James Beard House Foundation, the culinary equivalent to the musical world’s Carnegie Hall.
For obvious reasons, security will certainly be in full force for this year's game as it was last year in New Orleans, where federal, state and local agencies worked together to ensure the safety of Super Bowl visitors. When it comes to public safety, San Diego does not come unprepared or without experience, thanks to the Republican National Convention and the BIO 2001 convention, both of which required intense security measures. In both cases, thanks to the excellent co-ordination of our local police force with many other law enforcement agencies, there were few incidents.
We'll also be making sure--as we did in 1998--that our visitors' first impression of San Diego is one they will remember with pleasure for years to come. To that end, the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau launched a tourism industry-wide customer service training program last year. Entitled the WOW initiative, its goal is to raise the level of hospitality among the region’s visitor industry employees, encouraging them to deliver the highest level of customer service to San Diego’s visitors.
The WOW program will help to ensure that every Super Bowl visitor is met with a smile and outstanding service. This is something we already do well (San Diego received high marks from the NFL in 1998 for its outstanding hospitality), but this program will carry it a step further and allow us to roll out the red carpet to our Super Bowl guests in a wide variety of ways.
Last but certainly not least, when we say the eyes of the world will be on San Diego, we aren’t exaggerating! Over half of the people in the United States watch the game. Worldwide, almost one billion viewers from 188 countries watch the game—in 17 different languages! You can imagine what an impact the beautiful scenes of our sun-drenched region make on these viewers—especially in the dead of winter! We couldn’t even begin to pay for this type of international publicity, which will not only manifest itself in television air time, but also in countless numbers of newspaper and magazine articles written by journalists from around the world who will be here to cover the event.
This type of exposure immediately precipitates a frenzy of phone calls to our International Visitor Information Center (IVIC) in Horton Plaza and online visits to our website at www.sandiego.org, as prospective vacationers from around the world are inspired to request visitor information about our region. To site an example, in January 1998, phone calls to IVIC reached a staggering 10,000+ during the month, a 65 percent increase over the number of calls staff normally answered in January the previous year.
There is no question that San Diego is prepared to deliver another outstanding Super Bowl experience to our guests. To do so, however, we will need the same community spirit and support that we experienced in 1998. The sense of community pride, coupled with the warmth and hospitality we displayed to our visitors, made that Super Bowl experience one that still stands out in the minds of those visitors. In fact, we continue to receive comments from visiting media and corporate representatives who let us know how very much they enjoyed their Super Bowl experience in 1998 and how anxious they are to return to our beautiful and hospitable community.
Obviously, making its visitors feel right at home is something San Diego does well--and we look forward to the world’s largest media event with excitement and a commitment to creating another WOW experience the NFL and our more than 100,000 Super Bowl visitors will not soon forget.
