PHOENIX — There are only 70 days left until Super Bowl 57 comes to the Valley.
Just last week, the headliners for the Super Bowl Music Fest were announced, which included Paramore, Imagine Dragons, Kane Brown, the Dave Matthews Band and more.
The city of Phoenix has been preparing for the big weekend.
Mayor Kate Gallego says they expect to see at least a million visitors in downtown Phoenix for Super Bowl events, and that doesn’t include events in other parts of the Valley.
In 2015, the last time the Super Bowl was held in Arizona, the big game and its events brought in around $720 million in economic impact, according to an Arizona State University study.
“It broke pretty much every record we have in the City of Phoenix. We think the next one will go even further,” Gallego said.
The city said it’s working with Downtown Phoenix, Inc. to ensure businesses are ready for the influx of visitors.
Owners of The Kettle Black and its neighboring business, The Desmond, have already thought about what they’re doing that busy weekend.
“We’re getting a bunch of staff to come in. We’re looking at getting the alleyway rented out so that way we can have many more spots for a lot more people to come through and enjoy what Kettle Black has to offer,” said Harrison St. Pierre, a co-owner of The Kettle Black.
Like other businesses, St. Pierre said it’s been a challenge to hire people. While they’re not understaffed at the moment, they’re constantly looking and planning to hire more people, especially as the Super Bowl nears. St. Pierre says they plan to open even earlier when that weekend comes.
“I feel like we’re on our way to being ready. I feel like we could handle it right now, but in a couple months, we’ll be 110% ready to take on the amount of people that are going to be coming through here,” he said.
Gallego says they’re also working with transportation providers, too, to help connect the host committee and be ready for the masses.
“We hope that the impact of the Super Bowl will continue long after the game. This is an opportunity for us to tell the story of the city, and we're a very different city even than in 2015 when we last hosted,” she said.
