South Bay officials take a post-Super Bowl victory lap, look ahead

South Bay officials were taking victory laps this week after a successful Super Bowl 60 at Levi’s Stadium, but they won’t be resting on their laurels long — with NCAA March Madness games and FIFA World Cup matches on the horizon.

“Hosting three major sporting events marks a major milestone for our region and is a truly historic moment for our city and the South Bay,” San Jose City Manager Jennifer Maguire said during Tuesday’s City Council meeting. The upcoming basketball and soccer games “will further establish San Jose as the South Bay’s hub for sports, arts and entertainment,” she said.

While nearly all the official NFL events were in San Francisco, fans still showed up in droves for events in the South Bay organized by the San Jose Sports Authority, Visit San Jose and the city of San Jose during the week leading up to the big game. A city report on foot traffic in downtown San Jose shows about 459,000 unique visitors to downtown from Jan. 31 through Feb. 8. The biggest day was Feb. 7, when about 153,000 people descended on downtown for the Dom Dolla block party and San Pedro Super Fest event.

The city’s first use of an entertainment zone downtown, which allows partygoers to take certain drinks outside of bars and restaurants, brought just under 48,000 visitors to San Pedro Square — including 22,900 on the Saturday before the Super Bowl.

“This was without question the busiest weekend San Pedro Square Market has ever experienced,” said John Burroughs, operations manager for San Pedro Square Market. “Saturday alone shattered our previous single-day sales record by more than 30%, and throughout the weekend the Market felt like a nonstop Sharks game rush for nearly seven straight hours.”

Videos from the weekend showed people packed in so tightly at times that it was difficult for some to move along narrow San Pedro Street, indicating a need for a better crowd-control plan for future events.

David Mulvehill, president of Nuvo Hospitality, which operates several restaurants and bars in San Pedro Square, was initially skeptical about the city’s expectations for out-of-town visitors going into the week.

He was proven wrong, he said, and credited the city and its partners. “I underestimated what attention they brought to San Jose as a serious destination for traveling fans. They did a great job marketing and setting up events around the city,” he said. “Their effort was tenfold compared to 10 years ago.”

The party wasn’t just downtown. Santana Row’s four-day Super Row Weekend and Big Game Tailgate also packed the swanky shopping center in West San Jose with visitors. Its NFL Pop Up Shop exceeded its sales goals by 60 percent, and restaurant owners reported strong sales and foot traffic all weekend.

Collette Navarette, senior marketing director for the Western Region for Santana Row owner Federal Realty, said that following the success of the Super Bowl events, there are plans to have more for the World Cup games in June and July.

Santa Clara, which hosted Super Bowl 60 at Levi’s Stadium, didn’t hold any official events connected to the game, but Mayor Lisa Gillmor praised the coordination of several city agencies for bringing the game to the goal line, especially crediting City Manager Jovan D. Grogan, among others.

“This event did not happen because of press releases or photo ops. It happened because a small but mighty city rolled up its sleeves and did the work,” Gillmor said during the Santa Clara City Council meeting on Tuesday. “I’ve seen a lot of people and cities eager to take a bow. That’s fine, but let’s be clear: Santa Clara owns the stadium, Santa Clara carried the load, and Santa Clara delivered. And we delivered with class.”

The week was not without its challenges. There were seven shootings downtown during a 24-hour period from early Sunday morning through Monday morning, resulting in two fatalities.

San Jose City Councilman Anthony Tordillos, whose district includes downtown, told constituents in a newsletter that the violence marred an otherwise great weekend. “In light of this, I’m prioritizing how we can improve on late-night safety as we prepare for more events this year — but also in general, because it’s not just visitors that deserve a safe downtown,” he said.

In the run-up to the big weekend, advocates for homeless people raised concerns that officials would increase sweeps of encampments.

Indeed, San Francisco caught flak nationally in 2016 for closing camps before Super Bowl 50, and again in 2023 when authorities moved people out of public view before an international economic summit.

This time around, spokespersons for San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan were adamant that they had not ramped up camp operations before the big game. Both mayors have long-term, aggressive strategies to close encampments.

In downtown San Jose, staff at shelters run by the nonprofit LifeMoves didn’t notice any changes in the city’s strategy, said spokesperson Maria Prato. Nor were more people referred to the shelters than usual, she said.

In any event, visitors to the Bay Area interviewed by this news organization at the Super Bowl weren’t focused on homelessness.

San Jose Sports Authority Executive Director John Poch said he and his team took Tuesday off and then were back at work getting ready for NCAA tournament games in March, the next event in the San Jose lineup for 2026. “It’s not just about the event, but what we can do around the event for people,” he said.

There is already a three-day concert series, Music Mania, announced in San Jose’s arty South First Area (SoFA) on March 27-29, featuring DJ Diesel (aka Shaquille O’Neal), Bebe Rexha and Dustin Lynch. You can also expect another drone show and large-scale art installations at SAP Center.

San Jose Downtown Association CEO Brian Kurtz, who was at many of the Super Bowl-related events throughout the week, called it a “resounding success” that sets up San Jose for the rest of the year.

“Our community worked tirelessly preparing to welcome an unknown number of visitors to downtown — and they showed up en masse. Downtown was buzzing with activity at sold-out concerts, fan fests and packed streets,” he said. “We’ll consider this the practice round as we move forward towards March Madness, World Cup festivities and so much in between.”