New York Super Bowl Could Generate $550 Million In Touri$m

The big bet for Super Bowl 2014? The weather.
Tourism leaders in New York and New Jersey are hoping thousands of football fans flock to the region in the dead of winter wearing overcoats with deep pockets.

The Super Bowl could bring in as much as $550 million to the region, according to some estimates. But these measures, sports and economic experts say, are an inexact and vary based on factors ranging from what teams are playing to the weather.
That's not such a big deal in Miami or Los Angeles, but the average temperature for the Meadowlands area in February is somewhere between 24 to 40 degrees, with several inches of rain. And the game is usually at night, when temperatures drop. Did we mention there's no roof on the new $1.6 billion stadium?
That may keep some fair-weather fans away and the die-hards too, if their flights are canceled due to snow.
"The quality of the game itself or the fans – depending on how drunk they are – may feel the effects of the cold weather," said Allen Sanderson, sports economist at the University of Chicago.
Still, those in the region's tourism industry were thrilled at Tuesday's news that Meadowlands secured the bid.
"This is a huge shot in the arm," said Mark Giangiulio, Chairman of the Board of the New Jersey Hotel and Lodging Association, and general manager of the Grand Summit Hotel in Summit, N.J.
The Super Bowl will bring thousands of fans during what's traditionally the slowest time of year for the hotel industry in the Northeast.