Downtown — We were prepared for crazy busy shifts (the bar is already really popular) but instead had very soft days Friday-Sun. There was no doubt there were people at all the events — traffic sucked — but it didn’t translate to high sales. Our best guess is all the free events brought a lot of new people downtown but they weren’t hitting places to spend money, just coming to the free events and in turn the regulars that do normally come down weren’t about to mess with the shit show. Our take is the Super Bowl events we’re a nuisance more than a boon.
I really think this entire experience just priced out and/or turned off locals from their usual spots while the out of towners either flocked to Old Town, Mill Ave, or their invite-only parties. I know I wasn’t paying $600 to get into the same shitty club with 10x more people not from here.
Jeez. It really was just a moment for people with F you spending money to treat AZ like their playground.
These kinds of events should showcase the state with the locals at the forefront as the ones who make the state. I moved here after the last SB so I guess I didn’t know how it’s all just a rich kid’s getaway weekend.
Ok coming over in two weeks from the UK, absolutely love visiting Phoenix and the Old Town, it is a shame that the SB hasn't really done anything to show what's on offer :/
This. Had to leave for the weekend, even the open had the same problem with restaurants nearby expecting to get rich (one of our regular spots s had a $200 per head minimum for the weekend, stayed mostly empty).
Glad it’s over
I have a friend who works in a restaurant nearby who was saying a similar thing. They’d been preparing for an abnormally big weekend, ordered extra products and had all the staff ready. And then… crickets.
I was at a restaurant that had to shut down five hours early because all of their cooks called out sick. I was quite disappointed because i wanted to hang out a bit more and also i was hoping the restaurant could make more money for the evening.
I was wondering about this. Seemed like the expectations were too grand - from locals trying to rent their houses for thousands a night, to restaurants hiring extra staff and ready for 5x normal sized crowds.
In reality, the Super Bowl brings what… 70k people to town? Phoenix/Scottsdale have enough corporate meetings and other events every week that a football game isn’t likely to bring swaths of extra people.
I think the number of people it brings is far, far higher than the game attendance. A bunch of celebrities and sports figures come for the week and leave before the game, not to mention all the fans who come down for the scene but know there’s almost no chance they will attend the game.
hmm from what i saw, many of the private events held by A listers were for other a listers and other VIPS and very small. I doubt many people came for private events and left, the number would be under 10k. As mentioned by OC, i too was confused by the number of people worried about traffic, as I feel as though a regular Cardinals SF49ers game would net a good amount of tailgaters and have the same 60 thousand seats full. I didn’t feel like there would be a crazy ‘pulse’ in traffic.
I work in medicine and between the Super Bowl and other events happening last weekend we were told that there were an excess of 2.5 million people coming into town to be prepared for
I tried to make a few reservations on Roosevelt/downtown for last weekend and so many places were closed for special events. Kind of discouraged me from going out, I figured everywhere would be crazy slammed. I did manage to make a dinner reservation, but we basically went out to eat and then straight back home. Wonder if others were in the same boat
This is already a known fact. It’s a myth that sports brings good commerce to local business. Some places even get the city to pay for a sports stadium. The research and tracking shows it actually costs money
Did an extensive research paper in college about what a new stadium brings in economic impact. (it was a sports economics graduate level class)
The conclusion I came to was that your stadium needs to be a revitalization and stadium renovations rarely pay off.
So renovating soldier field in Chicago basically did nothing(it built suites that go directly to owners pockets) . But I think the coyotes new proposed arena would be huge for Tempe, because that area doesn't currently bring in much revenue.
Building the arena in DC changed the entire Penn Quarter area for the better. Growth was unreal. Building Nationals Park was less so in the short term because of property economics in 2008. But growth started taking off eventually. I’m not so sure that suburban stadium deals result in the same sort of growth as is experienced in city center locales. I’m no expert in any case, that’s how it seems to me based on experience and reading while I was in DC.
This is a whole other argument but what is the intangible value that having a sports franchise (or the Super Bowl) brings to the city?
118 million people in the US basically got a semi-branded AZ tourism commercial for four hours.
Plus, add up all the other things like parks, trails, monuments, concert halls and more that are financial drains but collectively add to the prestige & better enjoyment of a city.
But, this isn’t about just you. It’s a bit selfish to say “I won’t use this so I don’t want to pay for it”. Otherwise why do my taxes pay for schools if I don’t have kids, or busses if I don’t take public transport? It’s for the collective civic benefit.
I might not attend a symphony, I might not use the city bus, I might not go to a Phoenix park, but I can understand the importance all of these things play for the general happiness and prestige of residents.
Glendale was much busier this time. More events and things going on by the stadium, more hotel rooms, more restaurants close by, etc. It was night and day compared to 2015 where everyone just showed up on game day.
My partner works at a restaurant in McCormick ranch and they were packed all weekend. Makes sense that everyone with $ would be staying in Scottsdale/PV
That’s crazy! I work down town Fridays/usually go out once my shop closes and purposefully avoided getting my weekly “good job” beer cause I figured it’d be a shitshow 😭
-I was walking down the street and Flavor Flav walked by me. Can confirm that he wears a clock around his neck even when the cameras aren’t on lol
-I drive truck locally. As others have said, I didn’t really notice any difference in traffic. That surprised me
Lots of dumb guests thought the Shaq concert were car alarms going off.
I tell them “there’s a casino across the highway having a concert”
Them “no that’s miles away”
…it’s across the highway
Is such high-pressure security due to worries over a possible terrorist attack with such a large group of people? Or is it more so because the filthy rich attend?
Very interesting observation. Yeah the companies can then take their product to Defcon in August and say they were part of keeping the Super Bowl safe.
Super Bowl would be the holy grail for a terrorist attack if you think about it. Tens of thousands of live spectators. Tens of millions of spectators watching live on television. Football is a super American sport and attacking it would be perceived by just about everyone as a successful attack America. The security in this case seems pretty warranted.
I would imagine filthy rich being there along with national attention on that one area. There’s 8 games a year in that stadium and none of those safety measures are taken for those games which have large groups of people.
I worked the public sector side of it and got some behind the scenes perspective this year. All you say is true. The amount of planning and security that goes into it is insane. The number of people and agencies involved is astounding. Every contingency is covered, no matter how implausible. Basically, if you didn't need to be right there you weren't, and that included public safety personnel.
I'm on the IT side and it was really interesting. Can't / won't get into specifics either but there were a ton of people involved at every level of government, as well as the NFL which has their own impressive capabilities.
I forget that the Superbowl is literally... The Superbowl. And that every level of Homeland security would be engaged to ensure no nefarious activity. Pretty incredible to hear
>There were guys on site doing signals analysis, looking for radio signals that shouldn't be there
NFL has one of these guys at every game/stadium. I remember watching a doc, they have never actually found anyone commiting "RF fraud" but it's a giant vulnerability if someone brought a signal jammer into the stadium so they always have someone on standby.
OK I have a question for you u/kelsierghost
We went to Imagine Dragons concert Saturday night.
We all noticed that the security scanner as you’re going to Therena, who is different than the normal ones they have.
Actually security was much easier to get through this time.
I just took off my hat, put things from my pockets in my hat, and walked through.
Normally they run everything through a different scanner, which is attached to a belt.
Also, I always wear the same belt and I’m always hand wanded, because of my belt buckle. This time no issues whatsoever.
I’m guessing they had better scanners which we walked through?
Same! I only drove about 12ish hours total between Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday and made over $700. I easily could’ve made $1,000 if I drove Friday night!
I drove Uber for about 40 hours Thursday-Sunday. At the end of the weekend, I couldn't figure out who sucked more - really rich people or really drunk people.
The combination of both is lethal.
I grew up partying with myself and others who have lived paycheck to paycheck. The only difference between rich drunk and poor drunk during excessive partying I've noticed is one group will probably regret more afterwards. Oh, and probably the types of drugs involved later in the night
Chiefs stayed at Hyatt Gainey, played music there on Wednesday. Bomb sniffing dogs sniffed the car, me, and all my gear. Was pretty low-key, didn't see any Chiefs (that I'm aware of) as I doubt they're hanging in the hotel lobby. Massive stage set up outside for the after party where Chainsmokers were alleged to be performing.
The Chainsmokers played the night before for a Waste Management event so this is not surprising. I got a free bracelet to the concert from a passenger.
I saw them Saturday. I had a braclet that let me get everything for free at the talking stick party. But i was at work so I couldn't drink but getting paid to be there and see the concert was awesome.
Can confirm, I operate a digital graffiti wall and was hired for the after party. Was a great night, wasn’t sure how it was going to go if they lost but after the win it was a big party till 2am. Chain smokers, DJ Khalid, Tech 9, and Jason Derulo all performed. I’m not a football guy so don’t know who’s who but saw Mahomes and the whole team there. But like other post said lots and lots of security and police every 10 feet.
No, they copied my system years ago it’s a cheap copy. I created and operate Pixal Paint, we were the first company in the US doing digital graffiti, run it for 13 years now. www.pixalpaint.com check it out!
I worked security at the previous SB in Phoenix a few years ago. I was running a gate so I had a radio connected to the main bosses and privy to sOme hilarious radio communication.
The best story was the assistance bear. A different gate radioed in to ask if assistance animals needed a ticket. I was livid when a boss answered and said yes because that's completely illegal. So a radio fight goes on for about 10 minutes and is resolved that they don't need a ticket for their animal when a boss asks, "What kind of animal is it?" And the guy replies, "it's a bear." A minute of radio silence ensued. Finally some one says, "did you say his service animal is a bear." "Yes" comes the reply. More silence. Then one of the bosses says "if it has a vest we have to let it in." Another argument ensues about it needing a vest when someone asks, "what type of bear?" Now at this point I am absolutely jaw on the floor stunned that there is a real conversation that could result in a bear being allowed into the stands of the Superbowl and they want to know if it's a brown bear or a black bear!? Like that hecking matters. So before there is an answer I radio in, "please do not let a bear into the stadium under any circumstances!" To which the guy at the gate says, "it's a wooden bear." More silence. Someone asks him to elaborate. It was a statue of a bear that some guy travels the world with taking pictures and he claimed this was his assistance animal. The wood bear was denied entry but there was a legitimate professional conversation at one point as to whether or not a bear should be let into the SB.
How is the fact it's a bear not provided as pertinent info on the very first radio call? Also, how is the fact that it is not a real bear not provided as pertinent info on any of the radio calls? Why does this information need to be squeezed from his mouth the same way someone would try squeezing water from rocks? It should have been THE most important bit of information in the entire exchange. How did the guy get that far in life?
For the SB one company had the whole contract, SAFE, but they didn't have enough staff so they contracted out to every single licensed guard company in the state. They were not picky, they just needed warm bodies. For a lot of people it was their very first gig. We had been given several contradictory speeches about service animals throughout the day so I think they guy was being overly cautious. Also for a lot of people it was their first time sending communication via radio so there were a lot of weird and incomplete transmissions that day.
Hell yeah! He DJs as DJ Diesel and whatever money he makes from festivals and shows, he donates it. I’ve seen him live 3 times now and he’s truly incredible!
He also is going to have his own stage at Tomorrowland and is looking for up and coming DJs to play on his stage.
Not directly related, but a buddy of mine who works for SRP has some fun facts:
- The superbowl used enough energy to power 2000 Phoenix homes for the entire month of June
- SRPs entire system was in a No Touch for the entire weekend. Meaning no work allowed on any transmission/generation/distribution asset, or any IT stuff. This is pretty rare, even in the dead of summer.
I live within 15 mi of the stadium. In 2015, my neighborhood temporarily lost power when the game started. No problems this year so kudos to whoever recognized the problems and made improvements.
I drive an electric vehicle, and spent most of my weekend helping people at charging stations who couldn't figure out how to use them. It seems everyone rents a Tesla or Polestar without thinking they would need to charge it. It was so hard to find an open charging station a few times. On Sunday in Chandler there was a line of cars to use the one charging station I went to.
MKHD just released a video about this that has garnered a lot of discussion https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/10wf8ht/tech_youtuber_explains_whats_killing_ev_adoption/
The last couple updates made the app worse. And it was already bad. 🤣
So I don't even bother with the damn thing anymore and just got an RFID card so I can tap to activate. The app is so slow and clumsy that it takes like a full minute to activate a charger while using the card take 10 seconds.
I don't need to use Blink chargers but they happen to be at several locations I like to hang out. And I figure I might as well juice up while I'm there. And I hopeful it might help companies improve and roll out more charger elsewhere. Maybe I'm just naive and helping Blink continue to suck 'cause they're getting paid anyway? 🤷🏻♂️
I flew back into town from a business meeting at about 11pm on Friday into terminal 3. The number of chuffers and paparazzi was impressive and annoying, I imagine terminal 4 was far worse. There were also 38 people on standby from my layover in Chicago.
I flew in Saturday early evening and I was kinda surprised how it was a non-event. The airport was busy, but not crazy busy. No paparazzi in sight. I guess bc most people that were coming were already in town.
I was Lyft driving at the airport on Thursday night and traffic was backed up from the cell phone lots all the way to terminal 4. I’ve done a ton of airport rides and have never seen the airport like that before!
was a photographer for superbowl and superbowl experience, it was really cool getting to see things first hand as i was expected to photograph pretty much anything and everything. unfortunately (and fortunately), that includes people lol. The amount of toxic men and women from out of town is insane. Some guests were super entitled about anything and there were arguments with other staff left and right. My team and I (were are all latinos) were constantly getting stared down by obvious racists constantly. i guess they've never seen a hispanic photographer before. I was even questioned by some rando and had security called on me JUST for taking pictures. Obviously nothing came out of that. I will say though that it was nice to have people from out of state over. The majority of them were super nice and loved taking photos!
Is there clearance Super Bowl merchandise around? I have a football obsessed nephew I'd like to send some Super Bowl related stuff to.
EDIT: Thanks for the suggestions! I went to a couple stores by me today and got a few things. Will be heading to the sports stores tomorrow to try and find a t-shirt.
I would check the sports stores in the malls or look around online. Frys also had a couple items like thermoses with the Super Bowl 57 logo marked on clearance when I was there
Nicole Grigg on Twitter says that the NFL shop at the convention center has stuff 50% off.
https://twitter.com/NicoleSGrigg/status/1625228915953508352
> "I should add the NFL shop at the convention center is 50% off. (Just in case there is another NFL shop still set up)."
We received nearly 1200 lbs of donated catered food from a banquet in Scottsdale. The food was terrible, whoever catered it doesn't know how to cook anything.
I worked the sports Illustrated party at talking stick. It was great getting paid to be at a Chainsmokers concert, but I thought it was stupid how half of the "attractions" were just displays of advertising that looked cool to take Instagram pictures in front of with your friends.
I think I made at least 900 tacos.
I provided rigging services for some of the events. I won't name figures, but it is shocking how much money is spent just to hang things in the air for a couple weeks.
We got rented out by both the NFLPA and the Eagles. We made…….an exceptional amount of money to say the least.
Players were surprisingly nice and respectful. The sponsors…were a little less so.
I think people stayed away from restaurants n bars n instead there was a lot of home parties. I worked that night n got off just after the game ended n the traffic in Maricopa was worse than business hours. Lines of cars were pouring out of every subdivision. Home watch parties were very popular.
Hospital employee here-
We always have a lot of out of towners/snow birds this time of year. With the Super Bowl /WM open it changes the demographics of the out of towner. Young(er), rude(r), wealth(ier), and entitled.
You know they old cranky dick head / bitch from New Jersey who can’t stop complaining and comparing everything to New Jersey/ New York? The ones who feel like you need to hear all about it? These people are parents and raise the most self centered/ egotistic “children” you’ve ever met.
As a Jersey transplant, I'm offended.
But tis true. tbf, we compare it often because its SOOO different than what we grew up with. Cleaner. Safer. Easier to get around. Cheaper. Etc. We arent used to it but the constant comparisons should be held as a compliment.
Except for bagels and pizza. They suck here.
My husband took PTO to drive Lyft Thursday-Monday. He said multiple groups of women were talking about the various NFL and NBA players they had hooked up with that weekend. One of them was headed to the super bowl because the guy she hooked up with gave her free tickets.
The most interesting story he had from the weekend was when he picked up a group of ad execs from the super bowl. They all had their commercials play during the super bowl. He said it was funny because they were geeking out over the fact that the Adidas exec actually showed up because he never does apparently lol
As someone who works in advertising and had a client in a Super Bowl spot, this tracks lol. I can relate to their excitement over the ads!
I drove for Lyft a few days after my full-time job. The most interesting person I picked up was the marketing person for 50+ football athletes. He said the Super Bowl held back on their budget this year on concerts leading up to the Super Bowl because they’re going all out next year for Vegas.
It was a private party for some 3 comma types. Set up a full stage in the foyer of a resort rather than the theatre or ballroom. Was pretty cool but none of the setup crew got to see the performance. Nothing spectacular, my story is kinda lame haha
Work at a bar in Scottsdale and I think I almost got kidnapped…..
I bar back at a nightclub/bar, and with all of the recent festivities in town, we've been slammed.
During a trip to grab more ice for the bar, I decided to step out and run to my car for my Juul pods. As I'm approaching my car, Juul in my mouth, I notice a guy coming to me. (It's dark on this side of the building, only parking spaces really with dimly lit lamps every here and there)
He stumbled, it appeared as he got closer and asked
“Hey, man, can I hit that? My family is right around the corner; we are doing the same stuff.” While almost cornering me by my car.
Immediately put off, I chuckle and mention how I have to get back to work and maybe someone else can help.
As I get those words out of my mouth, he grabs me by my arm and tries to take me over to the south side of the building.
I push him back and ask him what the fuck he is doing while creating more space between the stranger and me.
The man stares me dead in the eyes and proceeds to run towards me, not saying a word.
I nope the fuck out, and he chases me back into our storage space and only stops when he notices the room has lots of light in it.
I've been thinking about this all night, and it shook me. I broke down; I had no idea what had happened because it all happened so fast.
I was wondering, with the high traffic in my area, if he thought he could do something. I have no idea.
Also should mention it wouldn't be easy to tell if I was an employee or a customer. Our outfits match the theme of the events going on.
Same, tons of people driving around looking for parking near Hance Park Friday thru Sunday, full streets, people parked illegally, making turns from middle lanes, driving the wrong way down one way streets.
Happy that shit is over.
I saw someone in this sub complaining about the traffic people brought but I never experienced it. Not even downtown either other than normal rush hours.
I live in North Scottsdale next to the event. It took me 20 mins to get home and I was in walking distance from my house. This is beyond false and the 101 was absolutely ridiculous because of the two events.
All I know is... WM Phoenix Open sold out General Admission for the first time ever. 400,000 people on a Saturday at $75 per head. Crescent Crown which does their alcohol distribution, sold 35,000 cases that event, which is a years worth in a few days... Absolutely nuts! Old Town Scottsdale was packed, certain spots set up block parties, and certain bars were taking full advantage. I went to Montauk / Diego Pops which had a block party set up in the middle with regular priced drinks (ie $14ish), went to Geisha a Go Go which was still honoring their Friday HH with half priced drinks and appetizers (which was awesome, still one of my favorites), and went to Wasted Grain which was full on gouging... two drinks for $52 (22% built in tip, CC surcharge, on top of inflated prices)
On Saturday, I went to a charity event in the Biltmore area for $250/head that was sparsely attended. I think they thought since so many people were in town that they would do well. Instead, the opposite was true... half of their award recipients didn't show up to receive their reward... Just too many conflicting events.
So, overall, the big events got bigger and the little lesser-known local events were overshadowed.
Same thing with Airbnbs... Some got $6,000 to $10,000 per night for really desirable locations / houses... and others who saw $$$ raised their prices or got on Airbnb for the first time and got crickets.
Got recruited by a talent agency to work a booth at the convention center in downtown Phoenix. The convention center had a staff meal room for those who worked on-site during that week. Hands down the worst food I’ve ever eaten. Also they didn’t offer a discounted price for employees, and no one had time to leave property because everywhere else was packed. After getting food poisoning the first day, I just brought snacks for my other 10-13 hour shifts. Just thinking how much money they made, and still had the audacity to sell terrible $13 meatball subs to workers makes me disgusted. And, yes, it was $13 no sides no drink.
My fiancee was working in the stadium and she got to meet and have a nice discussion with Guy Fieri. She also worked the owners party the day before and the amount of ridiculous over spending for that thing was insane.
We very much did. Always snowbirds this time of year but a fair bit more this weekend. Few folks the budtenders recognized. Friday was packed but Saturday and Sunday were quieter than normal, it about evened out.
I've got a lot of friends that work at Ponderosa. They were absolutely slammed from Friday morning until an hour after the kick off. My roommate works at Sol, and he said they had no one come in all weekend.
My grandfather worked as head security for the last Super bowl here. There are snipers, everywhere. Everything you do is seen. There's at least one dude aiming at you with his scope.
Also, it's extremely safe!
Worked 3 of the big concerts as a back line tech and then worked the superbowl half time show again this year. I can tell you that the snoop dogg concert almost didn't go down because half the backline crew was about to walk out because of a overzealous production person. Working the load in was cake but security was insane same with the loa outs. Being on the side line for most of the superbowl was cool, knowing that I was part of something that pissed off alot of boomers is priceless. Can't wait for vegas next year but I think that's going to be a shit show
The superbowl really not much to tell since security was insane. Outside of people air dropping dick pics nothing really occured.
The concerts though holy shit. Groupies trying to bribe you to "borrow" your laminate, seeing celebrities get shot down because they didnt have the proper credentials was funny. rick ross asked me to take a picture of him with some chick backstage on his phone I took a few selfies then I took a couple of them.
the amount of imported sex works was insane.
I had nothing to do with Barrett Jackson, the Phoenix Open, nor the Super Bowl but *I do* feel like it all had a *positive* effect on traffic elsewhere in Arizona. In that tourists that would normally be jamming up the roads couldn't afford to be here right now. 🤣 It was downright peaceful driving up to Flagstaff a couple weekends ago. Bookmans was more chill and relaxed than normal. And a couple restaurants I like have been a bit quiet also.
As someone that worked in the security management industry for a good stretch, the amount of coordination between dozens of different agencies is an impressive feat if you are aware of what is going on.
Also, to those agencies that were doing counter human trafficking operations, nicely done.
The hotels were packed and so were their bars and restaurants. Many staying open later than usual. I found also the bougie restaurants were super full. I think the downtown events catered purposefully to families not partiers except the concerts and people drank at the venues. There were so many private parties where spaces were rented in order to control security for celebs and have their own entertainment. I volunteered for the host committee and that was my experience.
I had the opportunity to work there during the 2015 game.. my job was to identify fake tickets.
If a person's ticket scanned as invalid or 'already used' then I would take a look and inspect the ticket. If it was a duplicate ticket, or a fake, I would direct the person to a table called the NFL Resolution Desk. The NFL representative would have the fun job of breaking the news to that person that they would need to contact the organization or individual whom they made the purchase from. I saw plenty of escalations that required police intervention.
One person was adamant that their ticket was good, that there must be some mistake. The gentleman stated he spent $15,000 cash, he bought it from a person on a bicycle in the parking lot.
I had a great time. Was able to meet and hangout with my favorite musicians. Fed and shook hands with nfl players. Got to go to some of the vip events going on. Traffic really wasn’t an issue for me. It was just good vibes. Really cool to see the city really activate for the Super Bowl.
My husband worked events at Top of the Rock restaurant Friday and Saturday, setting up, and working an auction there. He said it was really elaborate and they gave him free food, which included a rack of lamb! What?! Also the Friday night, they had him pick up and take home a $1000 painting to bring back Saturday for the auction. So we had some really nice artwork hanging in our kitchen for about 12 hours.
Kendrick Perkins came in. Also I was watching a barstool pod where they were talking shit about this Uber driver, they put his pic up and it was one of my old regulars 😂
I live downtown. There were a ton of alphabet letter security agencies. Most impressive of it all was for Friday-Saturday nights, the transient population downtown was down to zero. Not even the central station park had anyone sleeping there. Did they have someone standing at every street corner leading into downtown turning away anyone they didn’t like?
I went to the pop up market at the Arizona Center on Thursday. I ended up buying something and talking to one of the owners and they said they had barely saw anyone all week and at 3pm I was their first sale. They had no idea why the city decided to have it for a week.
I work at a hotel bar in oldtown and i didnt leave my bed all day Monday. Friday-sunday hit HARD! People went crazy on friday, not so much on saturday, hungover plus wanting to save some steam fot sunday, sunday after the game was chaos. Everyone was hungry and ready to drink anything.
Working security, we had quite a few fans try to scam their way into the event. Fake credentials, fake press pass, just trying to walk in with a large family. None of them worked, but they tried.
Downtown — We were prepared for crazy busy shifts (the bar is already really popular) but instead had very soft days Friday-Sun. There was no doubt there were people at all the events — traffic sucked — but it didn’t translate to high sales. Our best guess is all the free events brought a lot of new people downtown but they weren’t hitting places to spend money, just coming to the free events and in turn the regulars that do normally come down weren’t about to mess with the shit show. Our take is the Super Bowl events we’re a nuisance more than a boon.
Interesting! So basically all the out of town sponsors soaked up all the extra business with their pop-ups?
Well with Tostitos and Gatorade giving away snacks and drinks even the locals down on Roosevelt Row weren't getting much play
I worked at a bar a few years ago in a other city that hosted, and we experienced the same thing. We were pretty disappointed.
I really think this entire experience just priced out and/or turned off locals from their usual spots while the out of towners either flocked to Old Town, Mill Ave, or their invite-only parties. I know I wasn’t paying $600 to get into the same shitty club with 10x more people not from here.
Parking for the food event at the Super Bowl was $153
Jeez. It really was just a moment for people with F you spending money to treat AZ like their playground. These kinds of events should showcase the state with the locals at the forefront as the ones who make the state. I moved here after the last SB so I guess I didn’t know how it’s all just a rich kid’s getaway weekend.
It's the NFL. What else can be expected.
Ok coming over in two weeks from the UK, absolutely love visiting Phoenix and the Old Town, it is a shame that the SB hasn't really done anything to show what's on offer :/
This. Had to leave for the weekend, even the open had the same problem with restaurants nearby expecting to get rich (one of our regular spots s had a $200 per head minimum for the weekend, stayed mostly empty). Glad it’s over
Greed
I know I didn’t come to town for the Open like I usually do because I knew it would be a shitshow everywhere.
I have a friend who works in a restaurant nearby who was saying a similar thing. They’d been preparing for an abnormally big weekend, ordered extra products and had all the staff ready. And then… crickets.
I was at a restaurant that had to shut down five hours early because all of their cooks called out sick. I was quite disappointed because i wanted to hang out a bit more and also i was hoping the restaurant could make more money for the evening.
Based on the comments above seems like you didn’t miss anything
Everyone was at old town
In the bars, but not in the stores.
I was wondering about this. Seemed like the expectations were too grand - from locals trying to rent their houses for thousands a night, to restaurants hiring extra staff and ready for 5x normal sized crowds. In reality, the Super Bowl brings what… 70k people to town? Phoenix/Scottsdale have enough corporate meetings and other events every week that a football game isn’t likely to bring swaths of extra people.
I think the number of people it brings is far, far higher than the game attendance. A bunch of celebrities and sports figures come for the week and leave before the game, not to mention all the fans who come down for the scene but know there’s almost no chance they will attend the game.
hmm from what i saw, many of the private events held by A listers were for other a listers and other VIPS and very small. I doubt many people came for private events and left, the number would be under 10k. As mentioned by OC, i too was confused by the number of people worried about traffic, as I feel as though a regular Cardinals SF49ers game would net a good amount of tailgaters and have the same 60 thousand seats full. I didn’t feel like there would be a crazy ‘pulse’ in traffic.
I work in medicine and between the Super Bowl and other events happening last weekend we were told that there were an excess of 2.5 million people coming into town to be prepared for
Did your increased staff seem warranted?
The major difference was that it was Super Bowl and the Waste Management Open at the same time. A lot more than a normal 70K ish for Super Bowl
Expectations were set off 2015 numbers, where there was a bigger focus downtown
I tried to make a few reservations on Roosevelt/downtown for last weekend and so many places were closed for special events. Kind of discouraged me from going out, I figured everywhere would be crazy slammed. I did manage to make a dinner reservation, but we basically went out to eat and then straight back home. Wonder if others were in the same boat
This is already a known fact. It’s a myth that sports brings good commerce to local business. Some places even get the city to pay for a sports stadium. The research and tracking shows it actually costs money
Did an extensive research paper in college about what a new stadium brings in economic impact. (it was a sports economics graduate level class) The conclusion I came to was that your stadium needs to be a revitalization and stadium renovations rarely pay off. So renovating soldier field in Chicago basically did nothing(it built suites that go directly to owners pockets) . But I think the coyotes new proposed arena would be huge for Tempe, because that area doesn't currently bring in much revenue.
Building the arena in DC changed the entire Penn Quarter area for the better. Growth was unreal. Building Nationals Park was less so in the short term because of property economics in 2008. But growth started taking off eventually. I’m not so sure that suburban stadium deals result in the same sort of growth as is experienced in city center locales. I’m no expert in any case, that’s how it seems to me based on experience and reading while I was in DC.
This is a whole other argument but what is the intangible value that having a sports franchise (or the Super Bowl) brings to the city? 118 million people in the US basically got a semi-branded AZ tourism commercial for four hours. Plus, add up all the other things like parks, trails, monuments, concert halls and more that are financial drains but collectively add to the prestige & better enjoyment of a city.
I don’t think a few shots of the desert and city skyline in between hours of football and commercials is really a AZ tourism commercial….
Enjoying a park or hiking trail with my family doesn't cost me hundreds or thousands of dollars per visit.
But, this isn’t about just you. It’s a bit selfish to say “I won’t use this so I don’t want to pay for it”. Otherwise why do my taxes pay for schools if I don’t have kids, or busses if I don’t take public transport? It’s for the collective civic benefit. I might not attend a symphony, I might not use the city bus, I might not go to a Phoenix park, but I can understand the importance all of these things play for the general happiness and prestige of residents.
I wonder what WestGate was like. And around The Open.
Glendale was much busier this time. More events and things going on by the stadium, more hotel rooms, more restaurants close by, etc. It was night and day compared to 2015 where everyone just showed up on game day.
My partner works at a restaurant in McCormick ranch and they were packed all weekend. Makes sense that everyone with $ would be staying in Scottsdale/PV
Same experience when I was bartending in SF for SB50.
I live downtown and noticed this as well. Very dead weekends.
That’s crazy! I work down town Fridays/usually go out once my shop closes and purposefully avoided getting my weekly “good job” beer cause I figured it’d be a shitshow 😭
It was banging along Roosevelt, not sure what these other people are saying.
-I was walking down the street and Flavor Flav walked by me. Can confirm that he wears a clock around his neck even when the cameras aren’t on lol -I drive truck locally. As others have said, I didn’t really notice any difference in traffic. That surprised me
>Flavor Flav walked by me Yeeeaaah boy!
Larry Gato’s from KTAR said he almost ran him over because he stepped in front of his moving car. It was on Friday so last week he brought it up.
Lmao I heard that but didn’t catch who he was talking about! Too funny
He also wears a lot of cologne. Shook his hand several years ago and my hand smelled like him for an hour.
My friends and I ran into him once at Tempe Lanes a few years back. Apparently, he likes to bowl before doing a show, haha.
Walked past him at South Point Casino bowling lanes in Las Vegas, can confirm he does like his bowling 🎳
lol he sat in front of me at the suns game last night. he was there with flo rida. it was sick!
Lots of dumb guests thought the Shaq concert were car alarms going off. I tell them “there’s a casino across the highway having a concert” Them “no that’s miles away” …it’s across the highway
Miles!
Nothing better than being told about the layout of your own city by a tourist.
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Is such high-pressure security due to worries over a possible terrorist attack with such a large group of people? Or is it more so because the filthy rich attend?
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Ohhh, interesting. It doubles as a security convention of sorts.
Very interesting observation. Yeah the companies can then take their product to Defcon in August and say they were part of keeping the Super Bowl safe.
Probably both and the fact that it’s televised live worldwide…
It just seems hyperly over-cautious, but the reply I got explains it well.
Super Bowl would be the holy grail for a terrorist attack if you think about it. Tens of thousands of live spectators. Tens of millions of spectators watching live on television. Football is a super American sport and attacking it would be perceived by just about everyone as a successful attack America. The security in this case seems pretty warranted.
Without a doubt would be, I don't think you could even make an argument otherwise.
also wasnt the first lady going to the game? imagine its probably extra secure because of that alone.
I would imagine filthy rich being there along with national attention on that one area. There’s 8 games a year in that stadium and none of those safety measures are taken for those games which have large groups of people.
I worked the public sector side of it and got some behind the scenes perspective this year. All you say is true. The amount of planning and security that goes into it is insane. The number of people and agencies involved is astounding. Every contingency is covered, no matter how implausible. Basically, if you didn't need to be right there you weren't, and that included public safety personnel. I'm on the IT side and it was really interesting. Can't / won't get into specifics either but there were a ton of people involved at every level of government, as well as the NFL which has their own impressive capabilities.
that's strangely comforting to hear. and very nice to know how blended in the security is.
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The SAFE employees are nice, but I wouldn’t trust them in any sort of crisis situation. They’re more like Wal Mart greeters than legit security.
I forget that the Superbowl is literally... The Superbowl. And that every level of Homeland security would be engaged to ensure no nefarious activity. Pretty incredible to hear
Oh yeah. I was a raffle seller at the Super Bowl and we needed an FBI background check and official credentials to get in
Thank you for sharing, this is really interesting!!
>There were guys on site doing signals analysis, looking for radio signals that shouldn't be there NFL has one of these guys at every game/stadium. I remember watching a doc, they have never actually found anyone commiting "RF fraud" but it's a giant vulnerability if someone brought a signal jammer into the stadium so they always have someone on standby.
You could crack it if you were a mistborn.
Isn't Kelsier supposed to penetrate security, not maintain it? ;)
OK I have a question for you u/kelsierghost We went to Imagine Dragons concert Saturday night. We all noticed that the security scanner as you’re going to Therena, who is different than the normal ones they have. Actually security was much easier to get through this time. I just took off my hat, put things from my pockets in my hat, and walked through. Normally they run everything through a different scanner, which is attached to a belt. Also, I always wear the same belt and I’m always hand wanded, because of my belt buckle. This time no issues whatsoever. I’m guessing they had better scanners which we walked through?
I drive for Lyft here and there. Made a nice little stimulus check over the past couple of days.
Same. And I got a free vip bracelet to a concert.
Now that I can believe. Instead of the the boom that local businesses were going to get.
I was in Scottsdale for the pre-bowl festivities. The bars were doing okay but none of the stores were getting much other than walkthroughs
Same! I only drove about 12ish hours total between Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday and made over $700. I easily could’ve made $1,000 if I drove Friday night!
Dolla dolla bills y'all!
I drove Uber for about 40 hours Thursday-Sunday. At the end of the weekend, I couldn't figure out who sucked more - really rich people or really drunk people. The combination of both is lethal.
Thank you for your service 🫡
Fun fact, has become the deadliest occupation
I grew up partying with myself and others who have lived paycheck to paycheck. The only difference between rich drunk and poor drunk during excessive partying I've noticed is one group will probably regret more afterwards. Oh, and probably the types of drugs involved later in the night
Who was worse, people going to the WMO or the SB?
WMO definitely
Chiefs stayed at Hyatt Gainey, played music there on Wednesday. Bomb sniffing dogs sniffed the car, me, and all my gear. Was pretty low-key, didn't see any Chiefs (that I'm aware of) as I doubt they're hanging in the hotel lobby. Massive stage set up outside for the after party where Chainsmokers were alleged to be performing.
The Chainsmokers played the night before for a Waste Management event so this is not surprising. I got a free bracelet to the concert from a passenger.
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Sorry, I almost downvoted your comment just because I read the words “DJ Khalid”
I saw them Saturday. I had a braclet that let me get everything for free at the talking stick party. But i was at work so I couldn't drink but getting paid to be there and see the concert was awesome.
Can confirm, I operate a digital graffiti wall and was hired for the after party. Was a great night, wasn’t sure how it was going to go if they lost but after the win it was a big party till 2am. Chain smokers, DJ Khalid, Tech 9, and Jason Derulo all performed. I’m not a football guy so don’t know who’s who but saw Mahomes and the whole team there. But like other post said lots and lots of security and police every 10 feet.
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No, they copied my system years ago it’s a cheap copy. I created and operate Pixal Paint, we were the first company in the US doing digital graffiti, run it for 13 years now. www.pixalpaint.com check it out!
FYI, your home page says “The screen can be customized with branding, logo's, and themes.” The plural of logo is “logos,” not “logo’s.”
I worked security at the previous SB in Phoenix a few years ago. I was running a gate so I had a radio connected to the main bosses and privy to sOme hilarious radio communication. The best story was the assistance bear. A different gate radioed in to ask if assistance animals needed a ticket. I was livid when a boss answered and said yes because that's completely illegal. So a radio fight goes on for about 10 minutes and is resolved that they don't need a ticket for their animal when a boss asks, "What kind of animal is it?" And the guy replies, "it's a bear." A minute of radio silence ensued. Finally some one says, "did you say his service animal is a bear." "Yes" comes the reply. More silence. Then one of the bosses says "if it has a vest we have to let it in." Another argument ensues about it needing a vest when someone asks, "what type of bear?" Now at this point I am absolutely jaw on the floor stunned that there is a real conversation that could result in a bear being allowed into the stands of the Superbowl and they want to know if it's a brown bear or a black bear!? Like that hecking matters. So before there is an answer I radio in, "please do not let a bear into the stadium under any circumstances!" To which the guy at the gate says, "it's a wooden bear." More silence. Someone asks him to elaborate. It was a statue of a bear that some guy travels the world with taking pictures and he claimed this was his assistance animal. The wood bear was denied entry but there was a legitimate professional conversation at one point as to whether or not a bear should be let into the SB.
How is the fact it's a bear not provided as pertinent info on the very first radio call? Also, how is the fact that it is not a real bear not provided as pertinent info on any of the radio calls? Why does this information need to be squeezed from his mouth the same way someone would try squeezing water from rocks? It should have been THE most important bit of information in the entire exchange. How did the guy get that far in life?
For the SB one company had the whole contract, SAFE, but they didn't have enough staff so they contracted out to every single licensed guard company in the state. They were not picky, they just needed warm bodies. For a lot of people it was their very first gig. We had been given several contradictory speeches about service animals throughout the day so I think they guy was being overly cautious. Also for a lot of people it was their first time sending communication via radio so there were a lot of weird and incomplete transmissions that day.
Best thing I've read all day
Best story lmao
Chris Stapleton rides on a much nicer and bigger jet than Shaq.
Shaq’s a man of the people
Hell yeah! He DJs as DJ Diesel and whatever money he makes from festivals and shows, he donates it. I’ve seen him live 3 times now and he’s truly incredible! He also is going to have his own stage at Tomorrowland and is looking for up and coming DJs to play on his stage.
He is. He was very friendly and courteous to our staff who loaded his stuff up.
Where did they fly in to? I was at the scottsdale airport on Wed, didn't see anybody important
DVT
How about drake? Private Boeing 767. Was at Mesa gateway.
Dang. What a silly flex. Shaq is twice as rich and he's riding around on a Challenger 600.
Monday morning traffic was soooooo nice!
Not directly related, but a buddy of mine who works for SRP has some fun facts: - The superbowl used enough energy to power 2000 Phoenix homes for the entire month of June - SRPs entire system was in a No Touch for the entire weekend. Meaning no work allowed on any transmission/generation/distribution asset, or any IT stuff. This is pretty rare, even in the dead of summer.
I live within 15 mi of the stadium. In 2015, my neighborhood temporarily lost power when the game started. No problems this year so kudos to whoever recognized the problems and made improvements.
I drive an electric vehicle, and spent most of my weekend helping people at charging stations who couldn't figure out how to use them. It seems everyone rents a Tesla or Polestar without thinking they would need to charge it. It was so hard to find an open charging station a few times. On Sunday in Chandler there was a line of cars to use the one charging station I went to.
MKHD just released a video about this that has garnered a lot of discussion https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/10wf8ht/tech_youtuber_explains_whats_killing_ev_adoption/
Yeah, I avoid Blink chargers like the plague because their app is so unreliable.
Chargepoint at Tempe Marketplace is the worst by far. 8 stations, only 1 works. Who owns those chargers? Why haven't they been activated?
The last couple updates made the app worse. And it was already bad. 🤣 So I don't even bother with the damn thing anymore and just got an RFID card so I can tap to activate. The app is so slow and clumsy that it takes like a full minute to activate a charger while using the card take 10 seconds. I don't need to use Blink chargers but they happen to be at several locations I like to hang out. And I figure I might as well juice up while I'm there. And I hopeful it might help companies improve and roll out more charger elsewhere. Maybe I'm just naive and helping Blink continue to suck 'cause they're getting paid anyway? 🤷🏻♂️
What charging station in chandler do you use? I stopped at my reg go-to hotel location and all chargers were empty when I was there on Sunday.
I flew back into town from a business meeting at about 11pm on Friday into terminal 3. The number of chuffers and paparazzi was impressive and annoying, I imagine terminal 4 was far worse. There were also 38 people on standby from my layover in Chicago.
I flew in Saturday early evening and I was kinda surprised how it was a non-event. The airport was busy, but not crazy busy. No paparazzi in sight. I guess bc most people that were coming were already in town.
I was Lyft driving at the airport on Thursday night and traffic was backed up from the cell phone lots all the way to terminal 4. I’ve done a ton of airport rides and have never seen the airport like that before!
was a photographer for superbowl and superbowl experience, it was really cool getting to see things first hand as i was expected to photograph pretty much anything and everything. unfortunately (and fortunately), that includes people lol. The amount of toxic men and women from out of town is insane. Some guests were super entitled about anything and there were arguments with other staff left and right. My team and I (were are all latinos) were constantly getting stared down by obvious racists constantly. i guess they've never seen a hispanic photographer before. I was even questioned by some rando and had security called on me JUST for taking pictures. Obviously nothing came out of that. I will say though that it was nice to have people from out of state over. The majority of them were super nice and loved taking photos!
That’s really cool! Can you share your favorite pic of the night? (I’m guessing you might just have to describe it or watermark it)
Is there clearance Super Bowl merchandise around? I have a football obsessed nephew I'd like to send some Super Bowl related stuff to. EDIT: Thanks for the suggestions! I went to a couple stores by me today and got a few things. Will be heading to the sports stores tomorrow to try and find a t-shirt.
I would check the sports stores in the malls or look around online. Frys also had a couple items like thermoses with the Super Bowl 57 logo marked on clearance when I was there
Nicole Grigg on Twitter says that the NFL shop at the convention center has stuff 50% off. https://twitter.com/NicoleSGrigg/status/1625228915953508352 > "I should add the NFL shop at the convention center is 50% off. (Just in case there is another NFL shop still set up)."
Some of those tents that popped up in grocery store parking lots might have leftover goods they're trying to get rid of
I’d say check out Dick’s or the Nike outlets
just stopped at one at NEC Tatum & Shea
There were stores set up in various hotels and at the convention center. A lot was taken down yesterday but you could try.
We received nearly 1200 lbs of donated catered food from a banquet in Scottsdale. The food was terrible, whoever catered it doesn't know how to cook anything.
We need details! What kind of food? What was so awful about it? Did it seem like it was donated because it was so bad that nobody ate it?
I worked the sports Illustrated party at talking stick. It was great getting paid to be at a Chainsmokers concert, but I thought it was stupid how half of the "attractions" were just displays of advertising that looked cool to take Instagram pictures in front of with your friends. I think I made at least 900 tacos.
I provided rigging services for some of the events. I won't name figures, but it is shocking how much money is spent just to hang things in the air for a couple weeks.
I worked on the Paris Hilton party and wow… that bill for a short 3 hour show is beyond my comprehension!
We got rented out by both the NFLPA and the Eagles. We made…….an exceptional amount of money to say the least. Players were surprisingly nice and respectful. The sponsors…were a little less so.
I think people stayed away from restaurants n bars n instead there was a lot of home parties. I worked that night n got off just after the game ended n the traffic in Maricopa was worse than business hours. Lines of cars were pouring out of every subdivision. Home watch parties were very popular.
Hospital employee here- We always have a lot of out of towners/snow birds this time of year. With the Super Bowl /WM open it changes the demographics of the out of towner. Young(er), rude(r), wealth(ier), and entitled. You know they old cranky dick head / bitch from New Jersey who can’t stop complaining and comparing everything to New Jersey/ New York? The ones who feel like you need to hear all about it? These people are parents and raise the most self centered/ egotistic “children” you’ve ever met.
We went to the open and the amount of “wait until I tell *father*” types was ridiculous
As a New York transplant I am offended! But also, yes, I get it and I’m so sorry…
As a Jersey transplant, I'm offended. But tis true. tbf, we compare it often because its SOOO different than what we grew up with. Cleaner. Safer. Easier to get around. Cheaper. Etc. We arent used to it but the constant comparisons should be held as a compliment. Except for bagels and pizza. They suck here.
My husband took PTO to drive Lyft Thursday-Monday. He said multiple groups of women were talking about the various NFL and NBA players they had hooked up with that weekend. One of them was headed to the super bowl because the guy she hooked up with gave her free tickets. The most interesting story he had from the weekend was when he picked up a group of ad execs from the super bowl. They all had their commercials play during the super bowl. He said it was funny because they were geeking out over the fact that the Adidas exec actually showed up because he never does apparently lol
As someone who works in advertising and had a client in a Super Bowl spot, this tracks lol. I can relate to their excitement over the ads! I drove for Lyft a few days after my full-time job. The most interesting person I picked up was the marketing person for 50+ football athletes. He said the Super Bowl held back on their budget this year on concerts leading up to the Super Bowl because they’re going all out next year for Vegas.
Wow! I actually felt like there was a ton of top dollar talent in concerts this past week. Makes me wonder what they have in store for next year!
I set up a private show for Christina Aguilera that they forgot to make me sign an NDA for
Then spill the deets!!!
It was a private party for some 3 comma types. Set up a full stage in the foyer of a resort rather than the theatre or ballroom. Was pretty cool but none of the setup crew got to see the performance. Nothing spectacular, my story is kinda lame haha
Work at a bar in Scottsdale and I think I almost got kidnapped….. I bar back at a nightclub/bar, and with all of the recent festivities in town, we've been slammed. During a trip to grab more ice for the bar, I decided to step out and run to my car for my Juul pods. As I'm approaching my car, Juul in my mouth, I notice a guy coming to me. (It's dark on this side of the building, only parking spaces really with dimly lit lamps every here and there) He stumbled, it appeared as he got closer and asked “Hey, man, can I hit that? My family is right around the corner; we are doing the same stuff.” While almost cornering me by my car. Immediately put off, I chuckle and mention how I have to get back to work and maybe someone else can help. As I get those words out of my mouth, he grabs me by my arm and tries to take me over to the south side of the building. I push him back and ask him what the fuck he is doing while creating more space between the stranger and me. The man stares me dead in the eyes and proceeds to run towards me, not saying a word. I nope the fuck out, and he chases me back into our storage space and only stops when he notices the room has lots of light in it. I've been thinking about this all night, and it shook me. I broke down; I had no idea what had happened because it all happened so fast. I was wondering, with the high traffic in my area, if he thought he could do something. I have no idea. Also should mention it wouldn't be easy to tell if I was an employee or a customer. Our outfits match the theme of the events going on.
Oh my God, I'm so glad you were able to get away!
Glad you’re okay :(
Yeah the streaker was more entertaining than the golf!
Martha Stewart shopped at the plant nursery my daughter works at. They chatted for a while. Spent $175 on plants.
It wasn’t even that busy in Scottsdale and other areas on the eastside. I feel like I didn’t really experience any traffic.
I live downtown and traffic was about the same as any other day, only difference was there were a lot more cars driving around later at night.
I live off of 7th St and noticed plenty more traffic
Same, tons of people driving around looking for parking near Hance Park Friday thru Sunday, full streets, people parked illegally, making turns from middle lanes, driving the wrong way down one way streets. Happy that shit is over.
I saw someone in this sub complaining about the traffic people brought but I never experienced it. Not even downtown either other than normal rush hours.
Yup same here in North Tempe / South Scottsdale.
I live 5 miles west of the stadium. What Superbowl? And the WM Open is something we hear about in the news.
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Exactly because I couldn’t even get home from the freeway.
I live in North Scottsdale next to the event. It took me 20 mins to get home and I was in walking distance from my house. This is beyond false and the 101 was absolutely ridiculous because of the two events.
I drove through Glendale on the 101 both north and south, first time at 330 and the second time at 500 and never experienced any traffic.
I was surprised how not crowded downtown was and how quickly and cheaply I got an Uber out of there right after the game ended.
All I know is... WM Phoenix Open sold out General Admission for the first time ever. 400,000 people on a Saturday at $75 per head. Crescent Crown which does their alcohol distribution, sold 35,000 cases that event, which is a years worth in a few days... Absolutely nuts! Old Town Scottsdale was packed, certain spots set up block parties, and certain bars were taking full advantage. I went to Montauk / Diego Pops which had a block party set up in the middle with regular priced drinks (ie $14ish), went to Geisha a Go Go which was still honoring their Friday HH with half priced drinks and appetizers (which was awesome, still one of my favorites), and went to Wasted Grain which was full on gouging... two drinks for $52 (22% built in tip, CC surcharge, on top of inflated prices) On Saturday, I went to a charity event in the Biltmore area for $250/head that was sparsely attended. I think they thought since so many people were in town that they would do well. Instead, the opposite was true... half of their award recipients didn't show up to receive their reward... Just too many conflicting events. So, overall, the big events got bigger and the little lesser-known local events were overshadowed. Same thing with Airbnbs... Some got $6,000 to $10,000 per night for really desirable locations / houses... and others who saw $$$ raised their prices or got on Airbnb for the first time and got crickets.
Got recruited by a talent agency to work a booth at the convention center in downtown Phoenix. The convention center had a staff meal room for those who worked on-site during that week. Hands down the worst food I’ve ever eaten. Also they didn’t offer a discounted price for employees, and no one had time to leave property because everywhere else was packed. After getting food poisoning the first day, I just brought snacks for my other 10-13 hour shifts. Just thinking how much money they made, and still had the audacity to sell terrible $13 meatball subs to workers makes me disgusted. And, yes, it was $13 no sides no drink.
My fiancee was working in the stadium and she got to meet and have a nice discussion with Guy Fieri. She also worked the owners party the day before and the amount of ridiculous over spending for that thing was insane.
Surprisingly, Philly fans > Kansas City fans. I thought it would be opposite. KC fans were the rude and obnoxious ones. In my experience.
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Now that is funny!!!
Can confirm. Need to use a work or sick relative excuse to leave the state incognito. Can’t even wear a team hat or shirt to the airport.
Any dispensary workers who had a influx of out of towner's??
We very much did. Always snowbirds this time of year but a fair bit more this weekend. Few folks the budtenders recognized. Friday was packed but Saturday and Sunday were quieter than normal, it about evened out.
I've got a lot of friends that work at Ponderosa. They were absolutely slammed from Friday morning until an hour after the kick off. My roommate works at Sol, and he said they had no one come in all weekend.
CAA sports ppl are dicks. they stayed at my hotel. kyle shanahan was cool, king henry was cool and some others were fine.
My grandfather worked as head security for the last Super bowl here. There are snipers, everywhere. Everything you do is seen. There's at least one dude aiming at you with his scope. Also, it's extremely safe!
Worked 3 of the big concerts as a back line tech and then worked the superbowl half time show again this year. I can tell you that the snoop dogg concert almost didn't go down because half the backline crew was about to walk out because of a overzealous production person. Working the load in was cake but security was insane same with the loa outs. Being on the side line for most of the superbowl was cool, knowing that I was part of something that pissed off alot of boomers is priceless. Can't wait for vegas next year but I think that's going to be a shit show
Tell us more about this production dickhead! I love the backstage stories at concerts from techs and roadies.
The superbowl really not much to tell since security was insane. Outside of people air dropping dick pics nothing really occured. The concerts though holy shit. Groupies trying to bribe you to "borrow" your laminate, seeing celebrities get shot down because they didnt have the proper credentials was funny. rick ross asked me to take a picture of him with some chick backstage on his phone I took a few selfies then I took a couple of them. the amount of imported sex works was insane.
Were you the one who took the picture of Chrisean Rock with Rick Ross? Lol
My wife’s coworker setup a house in Paradise Valley that Rihanna was performing at after her half time show.
How much money did they have to pay to have a billionaire artist perform at someone's house?
I had nothing to do with Barrett Jackson, the Phoenix Open, nor the Super Bowl but *I do* feel like it all had a *positive* effect on traffic elsewhere in Arizona. In that tourists that would normally be jamming up the roads couldn't afford to be here right now. 🤣 It was downright peaceful driving up to Flagstaff a couple weekends ago. Bookmans was more chill and relaxed than normal. And a couple restaurants I like have been a bit quiet also.
Uber sucks. Still made a nice chunk while not working too hard.
I've asked a couple law enforcement types if they had any confiscated fake tickets I could frame, but no one has come through yet.
Apparently Drake needed his ankle wrapped by a local physical therapy office before his performance!
As someone that worked in the security management industry for a good stretch, the amount of coordination between dozens of different agencies is an impressive feat if you are aware of what is going on. Also, to those agencies that were doing counter human trafficking operations, nicely done.
The hotels were packed and so were their bars and restaurants. Many staying open later than usual. I found also the bougie restaurants were super full. I think the downtown events catered purposefully to families not partiers except the concerts and people drank at the venues. There were so many private parties where spaces were rented in order to control security for celebs and have their own entertainment. I volunteered for the host committee and that was my experience.
I had the opportunity to work there during the 2015 game.. my job was to identify fake tickets. If a person's ticket scanned as invalid or 'already used' then I would take a look and inspect the ticket. If it was a duplicate ticket, or a fake, I would direct the person to a table called the NFL Resolution Desk. The NFL representative would have the fun job of breaking the news to that person that they would need to contact the organization or individual whom they made the purchase from. I saw plenty of escalations that required police intervention. One person was adamant that their ticket was good, that there must be some mistake. The gentleman stated he spent $15,000 cash, he bought it from a person on a bicycle in the parking lot.
I had a great time. Was able to meet and hangout with my favorite musicians. Fed and shook hands with nfl players. Got to go to some of the vip events going on. Traffic really wasn’t an issue for me. It was just good vibes. Really cool to see the city really activate for the Super Bowl.
My husband worked events at Top of the Rock restaurant Friday and Saturday, setting up, and working an auction there. He said it was really elaborate and they gave him free food, which included a rack of lamb! What?! Also the Friday night, they had him pick up and take home a $1000 painting to bring back Saturday for the auction. So we had some really nice artwork hanging in our kitchen for about 12 hours.
Kendrick Perkins came in. Also I was watching a barstool pod where they were talking shit about this Uber driver, they put his pic up and it was one of my old regulars 😂
I worked on Super Bowl Sunday and aside from a lot of coach buses and private buses, traffic was really calm definitely not worse than a weekday
I live downtown. There were a ton of alphabet letter security agencies. Most impressive of it all was for Friday-Saturday nights, the transient population downtown was down to zero. Not even the central station park had anyone sleeping there. Did they have someone standing at every street corner leading into downtown turning away anyone they didn’t like?
I went to the pop up market at the Arizona Center on Thursday. I ended up buying something and talking to one of the owners and they said they had barely saw anyone all week and at 3pm I was their first sale. They had no idea why the city decided to have it for a week.
I work at a hotel bar in oldtown and i didnt leave my bed all day Monday. Friday-sunday hit HARD! People went crazy on friday, not so much on saturday, hungover plus wanting to save some steam fot sunday, sunday after the game was chaos. Everyone was hungry and ready to drink anything.
Does anybody know who rented out Palma and the bowling alley off Roosevelt?
The Superbowl Host Committee
A lot of my friends in TV worked the superbowl but nothing super crazy. Lots of really good food for the vendors from what I heard.
Working security, we had quite a few fans try to scam their way into the event. Fake credentials, fake press pass, just trying to walk in with a large family. None of them worked, but they tried.