Recession Clips Super Bowl

As Tampa Hopes For Windfall From NFL Championship Game, Some Fans Keep Wallets Closed, Or Just Stay Home

(CBS/AP)  From crazed fans … "Here we go, Steelers, here we go!" … to crowded hotels, the country's biggest sports party is in full swing.

A hundred thousand out-of-town guests have flocked to Tampa to watch Arizona and Pittsburgh clash, with the Steelers trying to capture their record sixth Super Bowl title and the Cardinals their first.

… And "The Boss" sings at half-time.

It's good timing for Tampa. Before this week, tourism officials say, hotels were down 15 percent compared to the same time last year.

"Just talking to the hotels, just talking to people in the industry, this is a huge shot in the arm for them," Steve Hayes of the Tampa Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau told CBS News correspondent Kelly Cobiella.

Lee Trythall and his son Max are spending $1,500 dollars for five days … tickets not Included.

"He'll meet a hundred players and get some autographs and miss three days of school!" said the proud dad.

But still, the recession is leaving its mark.

With the nation slogging through its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, there was buzz America's No. 1 sporting event could be played to empty seats. Brokers and scalpers still had plenty of tickets left the day before the game.

Hotels had vacant rooms, restaurants had empty tables. A gala at the aquarium hosted by former star Warren Sapp slashed the price in half once it started.

Some of the usual trappings were missing.

In July, Darren Diaz began showing Playboy representatives some potential locations for its annual bash. But no money, no bunny. The magazine canceled its party last month.

"They were in the process of deciding," said Diaz, whose family has run a catering business since 1924. "It's a shame. Had this Super Bowl been held four months earlier, this probably would have never been an issue."

It was a pocketbook issue for Lena Chamra, as she leaned in for a closer look at the gray pullover jacket with the sharp Super Bowl logo. It was exactly what she wanted, and she stared for a full minute … then walked away.

No sale.

"I liked it a lot, but not at $145," she said inside the lobby at the NFL's headquarters hotel. Back home in Raleigh, N.C., that's her electric bill.

"My husband lost his job two months ago, so I'm watching everything," she said. "I will freeze before I pay $145. We don't have that money right now."

The NFL, the richest sports league in America, readily admits it's feeling the crunch. Several people wandered by a huge picture in the media center of the Dallas Cowboys' new $1.1 billion, 100,000-seat stadium and wondered whether they'd fill it for the Super Bowl in two years.

"I've been very clear that we're not immune to what's going on out in the economy. There's a tremendous amount of uncertainty; uncertainty clearly breeds fear," commissioner Roger Goodell said Friday in his state of the game speech.

"For people who've lost their jobs, can they continue to afford to come to an NFL game, or to any other event?" he said. He added: "I also believe, very firmly, that in a time like this, the NFL can become an extremely invaluable escape for people."

Chamra, who passed up the pullover jacket, focused on saving money.

A big Giants fan, she went to the Super Bowl last year in Arizona and was rewarded when New York upset the Patriots. Along with memories, she came home with several mementoes.

"I dropped $455 on jerseys, hats, everything, the moment I landed. We rented a limousine the whole weekend and ate at Ruth's Chris Steak House. We did not even look at the prices," she said.

This year, it's a bit different.

Chamra prepaid $2,500 for a Super Bowl package, then tried to back out when the Giants lost in the playoffs. Too bad for her, she was locked in.

So this weekend, with her sister, brother and nephew, she's eating the breakfast buffet at her hotel and skipping lunch. She parked 10 blocks away from her downtown destination, rather than pay $30 on-site. And she held off buying any souvenirs.

"I'm waiting until Monday," she said. "Then it's 50-percent off."

[beauin]

watched wipeout, at least it was funny. NFL is going to stand for Not For Long, if they do not wake up and see, besides it being too expensive, the refs made the game. NFL stinks, get Goodell out, put Dungy in, it would get better right away. Goodell will screw up this labor agreement, get rid of him now.

[docpeter1953]

Not when most of us are broke, homeless and unemployed.
Posted by whitemale08

wow, you''''re broke, homeless, and unemployed, yet you still managed to access the internet and blog on this very forum with no problems whatsoever.

Pretty impressive for being "broke, homeless, and unemployed" You must take your pc with you on the street corners or something, heh?

Posted by Truthin2009 at 11:14 PM : Feb 01, 2009
__________________
Keep trying, there are plenty of places to get internet access: public library, unemployment center, home invasion -so you better lock up yours good and tight- etc. Don''t need a laptop to gain access to the internet.

[usclimey]

For those righty-tighties who insist on calling Obama "the Messiah" in their snide way - y''all saw the true Messiah at half-time yesterday. Bruce rules!!!

[fsw3]

The game was great, the half time show with the Boss was great. Maybe the toned down Super Bowl is just what we needed.

[andor3]

one of the best games in SuperBowl history. The best half time show in memory. Things are already improving with President Obama!

[spadeisspade]

Maybe, like $4 per gallon gas, we''re finally saying no to $150 fleece pullovers. Go us, seriously; we''re like the fat guy putting notches into the belt. Shrinkage takes hard work, but it sort of feels soooo goooood.

We can do with less. The loss of big box businesses is a good thing. You people that lost their jobs paying *** wages gained dignity. Go back to school, start your OWN businesses, squat in your foreclosed homes and start a *** revolution!!!

[truthin2009]

JetRanger7,

You need a big wet pacifier. Perhaps you can find one on discount somewhere.

[jetranger7]

Hey Truthin2009 - The Truth is your Republi-Goon Party that led this Nation for the last 8 years is exactly why were in this mess in the 1st place- did you not read the headline on the front of this web site about the mis-spending and total lack of oversight and complete lack of planning by your Republi-Goon Party thats led this country and the rest of the World into this mess- wake up get a life and face it chump, the Republican party Stinks to High Heaven !!

[truthin2009]

Not when most of us are broke, homeless and unemployed.
Posted by whitemale08

wow, you''re broke, homeless, and unemployed, yet you still managed to access the internet and blog on this very forum with no problems whatsoever.

Pretty impressive for being "broke, homeless, and unemployed" You must take your pc with you on the street corners or something, heh?

[truthin2009]

Obama is already trying to weaken our national defense and our military. He''s not wasting any time on trying to get America to submit and get on it''s knees to it''s Islamic enemies.

Obama demands 10% defense cuts
Budgets $55 billion less on military, $314 billion more on social projects

The Obama administration asked the military''''s Joint Chiefs of Staff to cut the Pentagon budget for fiscal year 2010 by $55 billion, more than 10 percent of last year''s $512 defense budget.

The announcement came late Friday, following a meeting at the White House between President Obama and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and Gen. Jim Jones, chairman of the National Security Council, according to a Fox News report.

To read the rest of the report, visit the link below:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/i
ndex.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=87759

[mistigated]

That makes number 6 for PITTSBURGH! Yeaaaaaayyy STEELERS!

[whitemale08]

The ''herd mentality'' is no longer working for sports or the media in general.

Who watches these stupid games anymore in the first place?

Watching the Super Bowl is so 80''s.

Nobody gives a d*mn about multi-millionaire ball chasers acting snotty and laying pipe with ****y but I''m cute with an attitude groupie chicks.

Not when most of us are broke, homeless and unemployed.

[marydpreachr]

206 Million dollars!
If an oil company made this amount in 4 hours!
Posted by republic76 at 09:19 PM

If an oil company only made this amount in 4 hours, they wouldn''t be able to make $450 billion in a single fiscal quarter....

[mistigated]

Bruce Springsteen''''s Music SUCKS!!!


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by endeavor40 at 08:15 PM : Feb 01, 2009

I guess Miley Cyrus is more your speed?

[hetup-2009]

What makes America look more stupid than it is? Uh, Uh, Um, ball, get ball, right coach, go get the ball, ok coach

Superbowl!

Super Stupid

[debinok1]

What about the current situation do these idiots not get? The economy is in the toilet. People are being laid off left and right. Houses being foreclosed. Yet they expect to sell their overpriced junk. Perfect example of what is wrong with this country.

[endeavor40]

Bruce Springsteen''s Music SUCKS!!!

[mistigated]

STEELERS clip Cardinals. YEAAAYYY!

[marydpreachr]

Well, so long as the atheletes are getting paid millions, what''s the harm?....

[marydpreachr]

"Recession Clips Super Bowl"

Maybe if they changed the name to "Super Bail 700,000,000,000..."