San Francisco's loss will be San Diego's gain after the NFL last week awarded the 2003 Super Bowl to the Southern California city.
NFL owners chose San Diego over South Florida to host what will be Super Bowl XXXVII, set for Jan. 26, 2003. San Diego officials peg the economic benefit of hosting the game at about $300 million, but the city will be giving up some prime revenue sources as part of the deal with the NFL.
As part of their bid, city officials agreed to forfeit their share of game-day parking revenue to the NFL and give the league exclusive rights to sell and retain revenue from game programs. The NFL will also receive San Diego's share of the food and beverage concessions at the stadium on game day.
In addition, San Diego has agreed to spend about $1.7 million to add 2,000 temporary seats, boosting the seating capacity to 70,000, and to pay for a revamped press box at Qualcomm Stadium. The city also will pay for lodging for both NFL teams. The NFL will receive the first $100,000 in parking revenue from the weeklong NFL Experience put on by the league during Super Bowl week.
"We matched or exceeded the NFL requirements in our bid package, and second of all, we know that the owners were pleased with the job San Diego did during the last Super Bowl, and the owners are the ones who vote," said San Diego Mayor Susan Golding. "Our goal is to get on a five-year circuit."
The NFL had awarded San Francisco the Super Bowl, but city officials withdrew the bid earlier this year after the 49ers' stadium project fell apart.
