Officials: Local Economy To Score Big At Super Bowl

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Super Bowl XLVIII’s economic impact to New York and New Jersey will be felt far beyond MetLife Stadium, officials said Sunday.

The NFL’s championship event is expected to be a $600 million boon for the local economy, according to the NFL. U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-Manhattan, said the Super Bowl comes at a welcome time of year, when Broadway theaters and restaurants generally offer deep discounts to counter a dip in tourists.

“And tourism employs one in seven people in New York state,” Maloney said at a news conference in Times Square on Sunday. “But thanks to the Super Bowl, we’re seeing more hotel rooms booked and restaurant tables reserved and even more excitement than usual for this time of year.”

The Super Bowl creates thousands of temporary jobs, Maloney added, including about 10,000 workers who are preparing MetLife Stadium for the Feb. 2 event.

The game will attract more than its 82,000 ticket holders to the area, added John Tsunis, chairman of the New York State Hospitality Association.

“You can’t keep the Super Bowl down,” he said. “It’s probably the biggest event in sports in the United States. And whether or not you go to the game, you want to be at the scene. If you can’t get to the game, you want to be in the New York City metropolitan area.

“It’ll be a benefit not only to the tourism, hotel and restuarant industries, but also the peripheral agencies — the parking facilities, the dry cleaners, the shops. It’s going to be a big boost all around,” Tsunis added.

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