New Orleans Mayor Says City Is Ready For Super Bowl, Expecting 150,000 People

Eleven days before the "big game," New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said that the city "is ready to host Super Bowl XLVII," according to Danny Monteverde of the Baton Rouge ADVOCATE. Landrieu yesterday said that the "many infrastructure projects that crews have worked to finish by the time crowds begin to arrive ... will be completed and cleaned up by Monday afternoon." Meanwhile, public safety officials said that they are "ready to begin deployment strategies aimed at the safety of residents and the estimated 150,000 people who will be in town for the Super Bowl and Carnival celebrations." Landrieu said, "We’re no longer preparing to host the Super Bowl. We’re hosting it as we speak" (Baton Rouge ADVOCATE, 1/24). In New Orleans, Richard Rainey noted city officials expect Super Bowl Sunday crowds "should provide a major boost to the local economy." Deputy Mayor Cedric Grant said that besides "a few minor fixes to be completed in the next week, all construction and beautification around the Super Dome, the French Quarter and the Central Business District was finished, including more than $330 million in improvements to the Superdome itself" (NOLA.com, 1/23).

BABY, IT'S COLD OUTSIDE: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Jonathan Clegg writes as temperatures in N.Y. have "dipped into the teens this week, the idea of playing an outdoor Super Bowl in the North has sent a chill through the NFL coaches and executives huddled in Mobile, Ala. for the Senior Bowl." Raiders GM Reggie McKenzie said, "I think the weather up there would be an issue. For what that game has become, with all the festivities and the hoopla, it will be hard." Falcons coach Mike Smith said, "I think everybody is hoping it won't be the type of weather they're having now." Clegg notes chilly weather "doesn't always put a downer on the Super Bowl." Indianapolis hosted Super Bowl XLVI last year, and "though it was played inside a dome, the 40-degree weather during the week didn't stop the city from earning rave reviews" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 1/24). ESPN's Adam Schefter notes some of the NFL's greatest games "have been played outdoors in frigid conditions," but the Super Bowl is "more than just a game." Schefter: "It’s a week-long gala affair. It's for all the sponsors, all the corporate people that follow the NFL. It's a week-long list of activities for everybody that comes. To do it in New York and New Jersey in a week like this where it's 11, 12 degrees below, I can't imagine that a lot of people are going to enjoy being outdoors” ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 1/24). CSNBayArea.com’s Andy Dolich said, “The Super Bowl is an ultimate party and if I’m going to a party I want flip-flops, I wants shorts, I want drinks with little umbrellas in them. I don’t want parkas” ("Chronicle Live," Comcast SportsNet Bay Area, 1/23).