San Jose will hire a “czar” to quarterback the coordination of the major sporting events in its backyard in 2026 — including the FIFA World Cup, Super Bowl LX and NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament games — as the city looks to maximize its visibility and a significant infusion of cash into the local economy.
Along with the three marquee sporting attractions that will be played at either Levi’s Stadium or the SAP Center, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in economic impact, San Jose officials see 2026 as an opportunity to showcase the city and bring thousands of tourists back regularly by creating “events around the events.”
“We have the Super Bowl, six World Cup matches, and March Madness, and we want to capture that energy,” San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan told The Mercury News. “We need a dedicated and experienced executive with a history of coordinating major sporting events.”
San Jose is allocating $350,000 for the 12-month executive leadership position.
While San Jose just approved the role, city officials have already begun the planning, engaging numerous city departments and business partners, including, but not limited to, the Bay Area Host Committee, San Jose Chamber of Commerce, San Jose Downtown Association, the San Jose Sports Authority, and the city’s professional teams.
“This is a short-term position which will be critical to playing a coordinating role across city departments and also with participating partners,” Assistant Economic Development Director Kerry Adams-Hapner said. “We anticipate that this position will also help to influence and coordinate with state and federal agencies, with our (intergovernmental relations) department advocacy for additional funding in the form of earmarks for both public safety and infrastructure as well as other needs. We see this also as an opportunity to pursue fundraising and sponsorship goals and using partners like Team San Jose and the Sports Authority as fiscal agents, fiscal sponsors, so that when we do receive grant funding, we can be very nimble and spend that funding very quickly.”
Some of the policy work that San Jose has started includes preparing updates to city code for special events, signage, and creating an entertainment zone in the downtown area. It is also developing a model for its “Fly, Stay and Play” campaign to encourage tourists to utilize San Jose Mineta International Airport, which Mahan noted was ranked by the Wall Street Journal as the best midsize airport in the country.
When Levi’s Stadium previously hosted the Super Bowl in 2016, San Jose Sports Authority Executive Director John Poch said that was not a point of focus like it is today. Although San Jose cannot host the Super Bowl fan festival because its convention center does not meet size requirements, city officials are “optimistic” that the NFL will select it to host media day at the SAP Center, which could draw more than 5,000 accredited media members and generate $760,000 in economic impact.
“So some of the things we learned is that by having the media day here first and the game at the end of …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
