What Can A Super Bowl Do for You? (Detroit Version)

[kucer]

Thought this might interest some folks...  I sometimes get up to Downtown Detroit's Dime Building, which was recently renovated, for work. They did a real nice job.  I've also enjoyed a few games at Comerica.  Anyhoo, here's the article. *Edited to Add that I'm voting NO to all this sh*t they are trying to get passed here in KC. No roof, bring on DT Baseball.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/cgi-bin/ar ... leId=28624

"Visitors — and those who live and work here — often judge the health of Detroit and its suburbs by the latest headlines.


Lately, those headlines have trumpeted an uncertain economy and a distressed domestic automotive industry. But when Detroit got the nod in 2000 to host Super Bowl XL in 2006, the city and the local economy were riding high. So just how bad is it now?"

[KCMax]

Michael Mahoney on KMBC 9 is doing a report tonight on what Jacksonville paid for the Super Bowl and what benefit they received from hosting it.

[scooterj]

That report is online now...

http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/new ... etail.html

The NFL said that Jacksonville would see a $250 million impact from from the game, but the city did not come close.

Davis leads the City Council's finance committee. City Hall spent four times more than it promised on the game. It predicted $3 million, but the event cost $12 million. Security was more than what had been figured into the cost.

...you would think that Carol Kalapp's favorite restaurant would do fine.

"And we asked them. They said, 'No.' It wasn't even as good as a regular weekend because the locals would not come out," Kalapp said.

"You just didn't go out that week because of all the traffic that came to town,"

[voltopt]

the thing that irks me about this article is this line here...

KMBC's Micheal Mahoney reported that Detroit is just coming down from its big game, but in 2005, the Super Bowl was in Jacksonville, which is similar to Kansas City in size and people.

http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/pol ... etail.html

that line is indicative of the shortsightedness of people in our hometown news media.
they want to keep us in a mediocre spot - but look at these statistics...
as of 2005
the metro population of Detroit is 4,484,000, ranked 10th in the nation. 
the metro population of Kansas City is 1,905,000, ranked 27th in the nation - 42% of Detroit's (half as big)
the metro population of New Orleans is 1,318,000, ranked 40th in the nation - 69% of KC's ( 2/3 as big as KC)
the metro population of Jacksonville is 1,203,000 ranked 42nd in the nation - 63% of KC's (also about 2/3 as big)
http://www.mediainfocenter.org/compare/top50/
my point is - Kansas City is not similar in size and people to Jacksonville.
We must hold ourselves up and stop this apologetic hokeyism -
we are much better than that.
i really could care less about the super bowl part, but i dislike the fact that approximations are bandied about the "news" like they are fact, especially when this fact reinforces a false perception of our region.

[bahua]

Merged redundant topics.

[voltopt]

thanks!  it was a one-off rant anyway...