With the universe of cities that could host the Super Bowl expanding to include cold-weather locations and brand-new venues, the NFL has the ability to drive an increasingly hard bargain when it comes to awarding the game.
And the folks in Santa Clara currently are on the wrong end of the hard bargain.
Mike Rosenberg of the San Jose Mercury News outlines the various concessions for which the league is looking in exchange for Super Bowl L or LI coming to the Bay Area. Apart from leasing the new 49ers stadium at a much lower rate to possible tax breaks for the league to pocketing a portion of the tax revenue generated by hotels and other venues during Super Bowl week, the NFL wants to get paid. As it always does.
“The NFL being the NFL, they obviously have the wherewithal to try to impose certain concessions from the host cities,” said Santa Clara city attorney Ren Nosky, who possibly is known in legal circles as El Capitán Obvioso.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told Rosenberg that the league also routinely seeks a waiver of sales tax on Super Bowl tickets. “The Super Bowl brings significant economic [activity] to a host community, estimated to be several hundred million dollars,” Aiello said.
That’s the way the game for the ability to host The Game is played, because there’s never a shortage of cities that want to host the Super Bowl.