Super Bowl 2014 To Generate $550M for NY/NJ Region

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ-Local officials have estimated that the economic impact of Super Bowl 2014 has the capacity to generate more than $550 million in tax revenue for the region's economy. But the success of the event is contingent upon several factors ranging from entertainment to infrastructure – even weather.

Panelists discussed the challenges of bringing the big game to the New York/New Jersey region during the Urban Land Institute’s “The Super Bowl comes to MetLife Stadium” economic forum on Thursday evening, hosted by the organization’s Northern New Jersey chapter at the Toyota Coaches Club. The event attracted more than 100 members to the Meadowlands, and featured speakers from the Super Bowl’s official host committee.

Alfred F. Kelly, Jr., president and CEO of the New York/New Jersey Super Bowl Host Co., the entity created by the owners of the New York Jets and the New York Giants to raise the necessary funds and partner with the NFL to plan and stage the game and events associated with it, said the main objective of the game starts with hospitality.

“This is about person they see at the airport when they get off the plane, to waiters in restaurants, to volunteers in hotel lobbies,” Kelly said. “All of those people are people who really leave an impression in the minds of visitors. One of my objectives and desires to have come out of this is that the world looks at this region and looks at this venue here at MetLife, and other venues for other events that will take place, and says, ‘this is a region we must come back to.’”

Part of that goal, Kelly explained, is ensuring the safety of visitors and preparing for the unexpected. The 2014 Super Bowl will be the first cold weather game in recent NFL history, and the chance of snow or ice is possible--which could negatively impact the economic value of the event.

“We have the prospect of bad weather,” said Mark Lamping, president and CEO of the New Meadowlands Stadium Corp. “We have to assume that we are going to have to deal with the worst possible weather, and that is the base plan. If we fortunate enough to not have weather that bad, then we are ahead of the game.”

Lamping said a contingency plan for snow removal is being mapped out by the host committee. “We don’t have enough extra space around here where you just stack up the snow in the back of a corner of a parking lot,” he said. “We can’t do that because we’d be taking up some very valuable parking spaces. And unlike shoveling your driveway or having the street in front of your home shoveled, inside the stadium, we have 82,500 seats that people with hand shovels need to work around to get the snow out. And you never know when it is going to snow.”

Discussions to incorporate a cable-stay supported roof structure in the $1.2-billion stadium were shot down early on in the design process, said Thomas J. Webb, of Skanska, who worked on the construction. The design could be retrofitted in the future, but Webb said the culture of New York/New Jersey football is done in the cold.

“There is certain element to both these teams to playing football the way it used to be played,” he said. “I grew up watching games on TV with the Giants and the Packers playing in championship games outside in the cold and the mud. That’s outdoor football, and to a large extent, that’s why they decided not to.”

To ensure movement around the complex, the committee is also working to integrate other parts of Meadowlands—such as the racetrack and the IZOD Center—to mass transit. The stadium is home to a NJ Transit train stop, but additional bus service is being considered.

“How you get people from those facilities where they are enjoying pre-game activities into the stadium, and trying to maximize to the best degree we can where the security screens are being done offsite is going to be challenge,” Lamping said. “It’s just making sure that the plans that are developed are the ones that could make for the most efficient flow of fans coming into the stadium.”

Another major factor in the success of the Super Bowl involves the completion of Triple Five’s $1.5 billion, 3 million-square-foot American Dream retail/entertainment complex adjacent to the stadium. The complex—once known as Xanadau—is currently vacant.

“That is a key economic engine for this region, and we cannot have that thing sitting empty,” said Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan. “It needs to be filled.”

Local downtowns will also be a retail player. Marcia Karrow, executive director of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission, is working with her team to develop and launch an interactive website called “Meet Me in the Meadowlands” with listings of restaurants, hotels and special events throughout the county.

Karrow is also coordinating with the federal Downtown Revitalization Management Institute to teach local municipalities about on how to capitalize on the Super Bowl and compete with American Dream. “We are really going to teach the downtowns how to brand themselves, and hopefully we’ll have a really good response,” she said.

With that, Jim Kirkos, chief executive officer of the Meadowlands Regional Chamber, said the chamber is partnering with local colleges and educational institutions on job training programs that can help employ thousands of workers in-time for the event.

“From my perspective, the economic impact is not only during the game. I personally believe that this region, we can leverage this great event for economic development in the future,” he said. “We will entertain, and there will be businesses and corporations that have never been here before, so we have to put our best foot forward.”

Wayne Hasenbalg, CEO of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, is positioning the region as the best place to do business and hold an event, whether large or small. “At the end of the day when we are talking about economic impact, how we perform and how we end up meeting our challenges associated with it is extraordinarily important,” he said. “If we do a good job, we will get more events like this.”

Check out photos from the event below:

ULI Meadowlands preview

ULI at MetLife Stadium
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