Super Bowl XLII in Phoenix/Glendale Thread

[tempedude]

A little more post Super Bowl news

East Valley Tribune: http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/109690

February 22, 2008 - 5:40PM
Study: Super Bowl media liked the Valley
Donna Hogan, Tribune

The nearly 5,000 members of the national and international media who came to Arizona for Super Bowl XLII wrote or broadcast 90 percent complimentary stories about the destination for their hometown crowd, according to a study released Friday.

That’s good news for local hotels and other businesses that hope the people who read or watched the media reports will want to visit the Valley sometime.

And it’s good news for the Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee, which is trying to win a bid to host the gridiron extravaganza in 2012, said Bob Sullivan, Host Committee president.

Only a third of the stories were about football, according to the Media Impact Report commissioned by the Host Committee and compiled by Tempe-based Business Insight Group.

The media reported on issues ranging from immigration to places of interest around the Valley, said Laurie Koenig, national research manager for Business Insight Group.

The good news is they really liked the destination, she said.

“They were really impressed with Arizona in general, and they had an overwhelmingly positive feel for the community,” Koenig said. “That goodwill shouldn’t be underestimated.”

While Koenig didn’t try to put a value on the favorable reports, others did.

Westin Kierland Resort general manager Bruce Lange, whose hotel hosted the New England Patriots and got a lot of broadcast coverage, estimated the advertising value for his resort at about $3 million.

Scottsdale-based developer Fred Unger, who watched ESPN broadcast for a week from a downtown Scottsdale site next door to his Southbridge shopping/dining complex, said the sports guys mentioned Southbridge so often he got a big boost in Web site hits “from Maine to Mexico.” He believes that will translate into future in-person visits to the area and his development, he said.

But the media didn’t like everything about their trip to the valley.

They frequently cited the fact that events were too spread out, Koenig said. And they complained about traffic.

“Ironically, one of our goals was to have events spread out over the Valley so all the stakeholders would get a piece of it,” Sullivan said. And that will be true for any future Super Bowl bids, he said, even after Glendale beefs up its supply of hotel rooms.

As for traffic, much of the complaints Sullivan received were on Monday morning when Scottsdale Airport got severely backlogged trying to get private planes full of FBR Open and Super Bowl visitors into the air.

Sullivan said he advised several VIPs who flew into Scottsdale to move their planes before the game to Swift Aviation, which has a terminal at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Other than those hampered from taking off because of weather at their target destination, the Sky Harbor planes got airborne quickly, he said.

Of all the topics the visiting journalists reported on, only one — immigration — did not have more than half the stores deemed as positive, Koenig said.

But only 1 percent of the international journalists and even fewer of their U.S. counterparts touched on the immigration issue.

[Buckeye Native 001]

Imagine how much better the media's response will be once all these projects are finished. Hell, I'm looking forward to next year's NBA All-Star Game for that reason.