There will apparently be a winner and two losers when the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks do battle at Super Bowl XLIX in Glendale, Ariz., on Feb. 1. Glendale mayor Jerry Weiers is confident that hosting the big game won’t be the least bit financially beneficial to his city.
“I totally believe we will lose money on this,” Weiers told Mina Kimes in a story that appears in ESPN The Magazine’s latest issue.
In the past, Weiers has claimed that Glendale lost more than a $1 million when it hosted the Super Bowl in 2008, but Arizona Cardinals president Michael Bidwill adamantly refuted that assertion, calling it “a bunch of malarkey.” Bidwill explained the game brought in $13 million in “media exposure.”
But the $2.3 million price tag the city used to pay overtime costs for police officers, firefighters and emergency personnel, among other miscellaneous public safety expenses in 2008 is expected to rise to $3.2 million this year, according to The Associated Press. Weiers endorsed a bill that would have allowed Glendale to be reimbursed for these costs by the state, but it died in the Senate.
It’s unclear how much money one of the biggest sporting events in the world will actually make for the city, especially with most of the festivities occurring in nearby Phoenix and many visitors opting to stay there as well. But there’s not much Weiers can do about it now.
“This Super Bowl was promised before I became mayor,” Weiers said. “There wasn’t any backing out.”
Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@SInow
