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NEW ORLEANS — Twelve years ago when the Super Bowl last graced New Orleans, the Superdome complex’s seven parking garages lay largely fallow, wasted space for an event drivers couldn’t get to because of the security perimeter.
Sunday, they will be brimming with activity, but not the vehicular type. The spaces will be transformed into high-end hospitality spaces, underscoring the explosion of pre-event spectacles and parties. And the adjacent Smoothie King Center will host its own pregame party, with musical acts Ludacris and The Revivalists.
“The biggest change is the presence of on-site hospitality,” said Superdome GM Evan Holmes, of the difference between Sunday’s game and the 2013 iteration. “It wouldn’t be too far out of bounds to say it’s ten times bigger now than what it was then. I know that because there are parts of the building that they’re using that they didn’t use in 2013, mainly our parking garages here that are attached to the building. … Now it’s all shut down, and it’s used for hospitality.”
Fewer Tickets, Bigger Price Tags
The Super Bowl has long attracted a corporate crowd willing to pay thousands of dollars for a ticket, helping drive up the cost for ordinary fans. To meet corporate expectations, events like the Super Bowl have been in an arms race to add more experiences packaged with a ticket. The NFL funnels tens of thousands of Super Bowl tickets to the company managing hospitality, On Location, meaning a good share of inventory is already scooped up for these elite packages. That means there are fewer general tickets available to average fans than there would have been in 2013.
As for worries about a reprise of the partial blackout that afflicted the 2013 game, Holmes said not to worry. The recent $550 million renovation of the Superdome addressed electrical infrastructure.
To modernize the 49-year-old building, the renovation “enhanced electrical systems, be it transformers, be it LED lights, be it boilers and chillers and all those things you do when you upgrade,” Holmes said. “So we’re in a really good place in the building.”
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