New York preparing for Super Bowl of their own

Mayor Bloomberg announced plans for shutting down part of Broadway during the Super Bowl next year.

The counter on the website for the NY/NJ 2014 Super Bowl Host Committee updated Thursday to read 367 days until Super Bowl XLVIII comes to New York City.

CEO of the 2014 NY/NJ Super Bowl Host Committee Alfred F. Kelly, Jr. said things are moving forward as he observes this year’s game.

“There’s no real available game plan, it’s learning on the fly and taking what you can from the other cities that have done it. [We are] really taking advantage of the experience of the NFL that have done their 47th Super Bowl,” Kelly said. “I think our focus is shifting now. We spent a lot of last year exploring all the possibilities and trying to create as many options and exploring as many avenues of things we can do, places we can hold events.”

Now a little more than a year out, the thought process has shifted from high-level planning to a much more detailed stage.

Approximately 16 members of Kelly’s staff are in town for the Super Bowl and there is a large contingent of government partners and sponsors who will roll into New Orleans for the event by this weekend. Included in this number are members of the NYPD, members of the governor’s office in New Jersey and the mayor’s office in New York City. Last year’s contingent that traveled to Indianapolis, Ind. for the Super Bowl was 10 individuals.

“I think last year, we were No. 1 meeting some people who were going to be critical partners for the first time. I’ve been to Super Bowls before but I attended that one in a very different way, looking at every little detail of every event I went to but I think at that point in time, we were in observing mode, taking in as much as we could but probably not yet smart enough to ask the detailed questions to help us in our mode,” Kelly said. “Down in New Orleans, we come with a much cleaner eye in terms of the detailed aspects of this. We now have a pretty good idea of the events and a decent amount about the higher level. Now we’re trying to learn more about the details, the idiosyncrasies. [We are] asking people, working on the things what went wrong, what they did not anticipate [and] what should we be thinking.

“We’re more experienced, we know what’s down here [and] what we have to learn about. I think we’re dividing and conquering much better in New Orleans than we did in Indianapolis. We have more feet on the ground and we’re covering a lot more territory. We’re taking advantage that we have 35 sets of eyes in the city and making sure we literally cover everything.”

Follow Jets beat writer Kristian Dyer on Twitter @KristianRDyer for all your offseason news.