The ‘Super Bowl Boulevard’ will be open through the big game. Miles Dixon, Metro
New Jersey may be playing host to the big game, but New York will get its share of the spotlight this week as Super Bowl mania takes hold.
Festivities are set to kick off at noon on Wednesday as a transformed Times Square is unveiled as “Super Bowl Boulevard,” complete with the Vince Lombardi trophy, a field goal practice area, and a 60-foot high toboggan ride. The 13-block stretch of Broadway will also serve as a venue for nightly live concerts and autograph sessions with NFL players.
In a Midtown press conference on Monday with the NY/NJ Super Bowl Host Committee, NYPD Chief of Patrol James Hall said the police department was prepared for the security demands of the event.
“We’ll have a presence out there that you won’t see, plainclothes officers, surveillance teams. We’ll have aviation units up in the air,” he said.
The host committee estimated that as many 400,000 people will visit the area, potentially generating more than $500 million in economic activity.
“There is a marketing effect that will benefit New York and New Jersey for years to come,” committee member and Giants co-owner Jonathan Tisch said.
Mass transit officials are anticipating an uptick in volume as fewer ticket holders will be driving to the game than in years past, according to committee president Al Kelly.
“This is not a game that you’re just gonna hop in your car, pull up to the stadium and pull in,” Kelly said. “This is a Super Bowl where you not only need a ticket to the game, you need a ticket to the site.”
