For San Francisco, the Super Bowl is the whole game. For San Jose, it’s just the first quarter

For many fans in the South Bay, the Super Bowl’s return to Levi’s Stadium feels like a sequel to their least favorite movie, “San Jose Takes a Back Seat.”

When Super Bowl 50 happened here a decade ago, most of the official NFL events were in San Francisco. That scenario has played out again for Super Bowl LX. Fan draws like the Super Bowl Experience, the NFL Honors, Taste of the NFL and even an innovation summit were all staged in the 49ers’ former hometown. The only official events scheduled in the South Bay were Super Bowl Opening Night in San Jose and the big game itself in Santa Clara.

With its perfect weather this week and home to some of the biggest names in tech, you might expect a city of about 1 million people to get more respect. But that’s not how a global brand like the NFL thinks.

When the NFL awarded Super Bowl LX to Levi’s Stadium in 2023, you can bet the Bay Area Host Committee’s bid package didn’t include photos of Plaza de Cesar Chavez or the Guadalupe River. But the committee’s website makes clear what was pitched: landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge, the Palace of Fine Arts and the Transamerica Pyramid. San Francisco’s massive hotel capacity, Michelin-rated restaurants and sprawling Moscone Center aren’t exactly secrets, either.

It’s a hard pill to swallow for a city like San Jose — or Santa Clara, which is actually hosting the game — but Zaileen Janmohamed, CEO of the Bay Area Host Committee, said each city has to work with and around the NFL’s needs.

“There was a lot of learning in Super Bowl 50,” she told the Rotary Club of San Jose in December. “I think what has happened this time around is that the city of San Jose has understood what and where the NFL will be and what they’ll do based on infrastructure, capacity, hotel rooms, convention center space — things that maybe are hard requirements that they have.”

The cities can push for events, but with many of those decisions made early by the NFL, the game becomes what you can layer on top of the official events. “I would argue San Jose has done that very well this time around,” she said.

And San Jose wasn’t going to sit idly by on the sidelines this time.

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said the city was prepared for San Francisco again to be the NFL’s focus. Two years ago, it began concentrating its efforts — raising $5 million from San Jose-based companies like Devcon, eBay, Adobe and Casino M8trix — on creating experiences aimed at locals.

“We have to control our own destiny,” Mahan said. “What matters more is that we put on a fun, memorable and accessible fan experience for both visitors and residents alike, and especially focus on the residents of San Jose and neighboring cities who can’t afford a ticket to the big game.”

That’s why thousands of people filled Discovery Meadow Park on Monday for a San Jose-centric — and free — drone show after the Opening Night festivities at the convention center. Thousands more packed the streets around San Jose City Hall for concerts by Kehlani and Dom Dolla, and local bar and restaurant employees said early in the week that they were bracing for those crowds.

While the NFL’s official Super Bowl watch party is in Oakland on Sunday, full weekend festivities were planned in San Jose at Santana Row and San Pedro Square.

San Jose, of course, is hampered by a lack of five-star hotel rooms and a convention center dwarfed by San Francisco’s Moscone Center.

But it’s not as if San Jose was entirely shut out for Super Bowl LX. Both teams arrived at San Jose Mineta International Airport last Sunday. The Seattle Seahawks are staying at the San Jose Marriott and training at San Jose State University’s CEFCU Stadium. New England is at the Santa Clara Marriott and practicing at Stanford. City officials are tight-lipped about celebrities in town, but the game’s entertainment — including Bad Bunny, Charlie Puth, Brandi Carlile and Coco Jones — is likely staying in San Jose hotels, as they did for Super Bowl 50, because of the city’s proximity to Levi’s Stadium.

“If you look at the gap from 10 years ago to today, you will see that we have closed it significantly,” Mahan said. “You’re going to see that in the visitation numbers, the economic impact numbers and the amount of fun and memorable things there are to do in downtown San Jose this week.”

Former Mercury News columnist Mark Purdy, who covered 32 Super Bowls including Super Bowl 50, thinks it’s a smart strategy.

“I don’t know where this myth came from that a million people come into town for a Super Bowl, but it isn’t true,” he said. “I’d say 75% of the Super Bowl events are attended and supported financially by locals.”

While the Bay Area Host Committee made it a mission to spread events among every county in the region, Purdy said San Jose and the South Bay would benefit from having a bigger voice on the committee for future mega-events, including another Super Bowl.

San Jose is taking the long view, too. The city hired former Olympic speedskater Tommy O’Hare as its sports and special events director and launched a “San Jose 2026” campaign with the San Jose Sports Authority to capitalize on NCAA March Madness games and FIFA World Cup matches coming later this year.

“That’s like six Super Bowls, and it’s all happening down here,” Mahan said.

The South Bay will be the center of action for both events, with teams and VIPs based here rather than in San Francisco, particularly for the six World Cup matches at Levi’s Stadium in June and July.

“The FIFA concentric circle starts in the South Bay and goes out,” Janmohamed said. “Super Bowl probably starts in San Francisco and goes out.”

For San Francisco, the Super Bowl may be the whole game. But for San Jose, it’s just the first quarter.