Super Bowl preparations are coming together, with the city manager saying the final agreements will likely be complete in the next couple months.
At its March 25 meeting, several city employees updated the Santa Clara City Council on progress toward the city getting all of its ducks in a row ahead of the big game. Levi’s Stadium will host Super Bowl LX in February 2026.
The informational report apprised the council of efforts by the police and fire departments, the office of emergency management as well as the city attorney and city manager.
“Across multiple departments, staff are actively engaged in security planning, emergency preparedness, public outreach and event logistics to ensure that a successful and well-coordinated event occurs,” said City Manager Jovan Grogan.
Much of the effort has focused on ensuring the city does not bear any event-related costs. Toward that end, the city has been negotiating with the Bay Area Host Committee (BAHC) and a 49ers entity known as TeamCo. Together, BAHC and TeamCo will pay for event costs for the Super Bowl.
Zaileen Janmohamad, president and CEO of the BAHC, told the council fundraising is “going very well,” adding that it is “ahead of schedule.” Once they are public, the BAHC lists its partners on its website.
While the city paid for city employees to attend a conference for future Super Bowl host cities, Grogan told the council that, since the conference was optional, that cost will not be reimbursed. However, the city had money in its budget for the conference, he added.
Further, costs for city employees’ time prior to July 2024, roughly $124,000, are still being negotiated, Grogan said.
“I would not say that it is a foregone conclusion that those costs will not be reimbursed,” Grogan said.
Vice Mayor Kelly Cox said nebulous language in the agreements concerned her. The agreements obligate TeamCo and the BAHC to reimburse the city for “reasonable” costs. Without concrete definitions, Cox said she worried the city could be left holding the bag on event costs.
However, City Attorney Glen Googins assured the council the city “wants to be very clear” about determining what is a reasonable cost, adding that there will be “very detailed provisions” to ensure “a real organic understanding of what is expected to be reimbursed.”
Much of the update circled around public safety — the police department, the fire department and the city’s office of emergency management. Presenters said they have been using Super Bowl 50, which Levi’s also hosted, as a roadmap.
The city estimates that public safety costs for the event will be roughly $6.4 million.
In addition to determining equipment needs, Capt. Richard Fitting, with the Santa Clara Police Department (SCPD), told the council that SCPD has trained for the event. That training included counterterrorism, hazardous materials, crisis management, cyber security, crowd management and human trafficking.
“To achieve our public safety mission, we have to get a lot right,” he said. “It is a fairly simple way of putting it, but it is reality. We need to plan prevention and mitigation strategies for a vast amount of threats and risks to public safety.”
Several council members questioned how the Santa Clara Convention Center would be used.
Chuck Baker, assistant city manager, told the council that the city has made several upgrades to the convention center. Among those improvements are digital signs, bathroom renovations and ballroom airwall replacement. The improvements have left the convention center “positioned as a central hub for hospitality,” he said.
“It is transforming the visitor experience into the modern era,” Baker said. “These tools enhance wayfinding, event updates in real-time and they unearth new advertising opportunities.”
Despite the upgrades, Grogan said it is still unclear whether the NFL will use the convention center for hospitality. Just as with Super Bowl 50, it is likely it will at least be used for “back-of-house” operations, things such as credentialing.
In addition to digital ads, the city’s destination marketing organization (DMO), Discover Santa Clara, has launched a strategic marketing campaign that includes hotel kits, trade show booths, influencer outreach, press partnerships and visitor guides. Improvements to the DMO and city websites that offer a “all-in-one digital gateway,” Baker said.
These website updates allow users to compare prices at the 11 hotels in the city’s tourism improvement district (TID), which funnels money into city coffers through a room tax.
Additionally, the sites provide transparency to residents and businesses, Baker said. All the publicly available documents are available on the site, and vendors can submit requests-for-proposal (RFPs) all in one place
Council Member Raj Chaal was absent. The council noted and filed the report. Barring any delay, Grogan said he was “confident” the contracts will come back to the council before the end of May..
Contact David Alexander at d.todd.alexander@gmail.com
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