Super Bowl XXXVII

Businesses pinch their Bowl pennies

SAN DIEGO -- Before them stretched the twinkling lights of San Diego Bay, a weekend of golf and elegant dinners and, of course, Super Bowl XXXVII.

Executives and clients of VF Imagewear, an NFL apparel-maker based in Tampa, mingled in a penthouse hospitality suite Friday night, talking sports and business while noshing on steamed shrimp.

While it was a nice party, a very nice party, the 70 people VF is hosting this weekend makes for a relatively modest effort considering the Super Bowl's storied reputation as the biggest sports bash.

But then the largesse that once defined Super Bowl week isn't what it used to be.

"We had a tremendous year, so we were able to do this," said Steve Eaves, VF's manager of licensed brands and special events. "But a lot of companies didn't. I think you'll find a correlation between how well a company does and what they're doing here this year."

At a time of plunging profits, executive perp walks and a shaky stock market, corporate big spending has been muted and pushed out of sight, but not out of existence.

Everyone from NFL senior vice president Jim Steeg to those catering the big parties and booking the fancy hotel rooms maintain corporate America has come out to play.

But the consensus is fewer corporate guests are here than at past Super Bowls, and many are having to pay some of their own expenses.

"I think the parties are really extravagant and well done. It's just a question of how many people they're entertaining at those parties," said Michael Kelly, who has been making the rounds as president of the Jacksonville Super Bowl Host Committee for 2005. Kelly organized Tampa's Super Bowl in 2001 and ran the NCAA Final Four in St. Petersburg in 1999.

On Friday, the Super Celebrity Bash, a $400-a-ticket gala on the Lord Hornblower, billed as southern California's largest yacht, had not sold out a few hours before it was to set sail even though it offered as featured guests former NFL players including Franco Harris and Bobby Bell.

Yvonne Delgado, president of the San Diego company producing the event, said she spent Friday morning calling concierges at the city's nicest hotels to let them know tickets were available. "We're still trying," Delgado said.

Hotel stays are down from those five years ago, the last time the game was in San Diego, said Matt DeLine, president of Roomstar.com, the hotel reservation system for Super Bowl XXXVII.

"No dig on the Tampa fans, but they just didn't travel," DeLine said. "I think they're just planning on watching the game at home."

Raiders fans were outbooking Bucs fans by five to one this week, DeLine said.

Five years ago, more than 90 percent of the city's rooms were sold out for the four nights preceding the game, DeLine said. This year, he predicts 85 percent will be booked. The average room price has dropped from $327 to $274.

"Room rates are down and crashing fast," DeLine said. "If you're not sold out, it's better to get $130 a night than nothing."

NFL-controlled events, however, seem to be holding their own.

Ticket sales for the NFL's primo game day party in the corporate "hospitality village" are up over five years ago. Corporate guests or those who pay $500 a person can dine on pistachio-crusted salmon, gorgonzola and wild mushroom pasta purses and miniature French pastries.

But before you can buy a ticket to the 18-acre expanse of wine, food and flowers, you need a game ticket.

To make expenses, the NFL needed to sell 2,300 tickets at the stadium club, the part of the corporate hospitality village that sells individual tickets, said Steeg, the NFL's special events coordinator. More than 2,500 have been sold.

And sales for party tents are up 5 percent over those for San Diego's last Super Bowl.

The biggest change, said Steeg and others, is that company executives are being more judicious about who they're sending and what they're paying for.

It costs between $7,000 and $10,000 for each person companies send on a first-class trip to the Super Bowl, Steeg said.

"I think they're managing their budgets a lot tighter," Steeg said. "Instead of throwing parties five nights, the individuals are out using their own plastic for a night or two."

Michael Halprin, 40, of St. Petersburg didn't fly on a charter jet or get an invite to a celebrity golf tournament, but he got tickets to the game from a client. He'll pick up many of the other expenses himself.

He used the tickets to bring a friend, Gerald Davis, 39, a lawyer from Madeira Beach.

"They're supposed to very good," Halprin, who does digital photography projects, said of his game tickets. "I'm just thrilled to be here."