SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) — San Francisco’s estimated costs for hosting the Super Bowl will be more than $4 million, including $2.3 million for public transit and parking enforcement, according to revised figures released Wednesday.
Estimates released last week by the mayor’s office put the costs to the city for hosting Super Bowl 50 at around $3.5 to $4 million, including $1.7 million in costs to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and between $1 and $1.5 million for police.
However, the cost estimate from the SFMTA mistakenly left out the cost of additional parking control officers, spokesman Paul Rose said.
The agency this week released revised estimated costs of around $2.3 million, raising total estimated city costs to between $4.1 and $4.6 million. This places costs for the Super Bowl well ahead of other recent events including the World Series playoffs and parade, which cost around $2.3 million in 2014, according to city figures.
Rose noted that the total cost, while higher than the original estimate, is still within the agency’s existing budget, which includes funds for special events, and will not require any additional appropriations.
“We have no plans to ask for reimbursement,” Rose said.
While Super Bowl 50 will be played at Santa Clara’s Levi’s Stadium on Feb. 7, more than 1 million people are expected to attend Super Bowl-related events in San Francisco between Jan. 30 and Feb. 7. The city is hosting Super Bowl City, afree fan village, The NFL Experience, an interactive theme park at Moscone Center, and a media center.
The mayor’s office report noted that the full impact will not be known until after it is over, but other cities that have hosted the Super Bowl have seen economic benefits as well as costs. Phoenix, which hosted in 2015, saw $719.5 million in total economic impacts, while New Orleans, which hosted in 2013, saw $480 million in total economic impacts and $10.1 million in direct local tax revenue, according to the report.
Despite the touted benefits, the event has drawn criticism from residents and public officials concerned about the costs to taxpayers and about the impact of planned street closures and public transit changes on residents and commuters.
Supervisors have held two hearings on the expected costs, and Supervisor Jane Kim on Tuesday introduced a resolution calling for the Office of the Controller to conduct a cost analysis in the future before the city commits itself to large events.
In introducing the bill, Kim said her priorities were to make sure that people can get to work and that the city is not “left with a fiscal hangover when the party’s over.”
The Super Bowl 50 Host Committee has issued a statement on Friday on the costs and revenues:
In a regional collaboration, San Francisco and Santa Clara joined forces with the Host Committee to bring Super Bowl 50 to the Bay Area.
Santa Clara will host the game.
Because Santa Clara’s stadium was built with public funds, local law prohibits general fund money from being used for certain gameday costs. Santa Clara is, however, using public funds to produce a number of promotional events surrounding Super Bowl 50, and will absorb some costs not associated with the stadium itself.
While Santa Clara doesn’t have the large number of hotel rooms or other amenities to generate hotel and sales taxes on the magnitude San Francisco does, Santa Clara will enjoy an economic boost through the increased number of public and private events that will generate local spending, and through gameday spending at Levi’s Stadium.
San Francisco is hosting the large, free public festivities that will draw tens of thousands of people to “Super Bowl City” every day for nine days. The Host Committee is paying for this public event – it is paying for building the temporary city, operating it, staffing it, paying the performers, tearing it down and cleaning up. The city will absorb the cost of expanded city services (principally, public transportation and public safety) as it would for any large public event, such as Chinese New Year, Pride or Fleet Week. The city will more than make its money back through the dramatic increase in hotel and sales taxes.
The city will also benefit from a number of other events. The NFL is renting out the Moscone Center for NFL Experience and for the Media Center, which will draw 5,000 journalists to San Francisco. There will also be a variety of ticketed events and a variety of private parties, all of which are being paid for by private organizers.
The overall economic impact of the Super Bowl is expected to be in the hundreds of millions.
Thus, both cities, as well as other cities around the region, stand to make millions of dollars – money that would not exist but for the Super Bowl – on these weeklong activities. More than $13 million is being raised for youth-serving charities as well.
Hundreds of local business, thousands of local workers, and tens of thousands of Bay Area youth will be the direct beneficiaries of Super Bowl 50.
Mayor Ed Lee also released a statement Friday to KRON:
The San Francisco Bay Area bid to host the Super Bowl because of the enormous financial benefits it will bring, like benefits to our workforce, to families, to charities, and a huge economic boost to our number one industry, tourism. We fully expect a financial win for San Francisco and the mayor is proud of the work the city did to win the bid to host this historic event and thanks the Super Bowl Host Committee for raising the funds necessary to put on the free, family friendly events here like concerts with Alicia Keys and Chris Isaacs that will make it a spectacular week in San Francisco.