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New Orleans has about 200 days and 400 things to do before it hosts the Super Bowl

New Orleans has about 200 days and 400 things to do before it hosts the Super Bowl

By Chelsea Brasted

Source: Axios New Orleans

July 30, 2024

There are just less than 200 days to go until New Orleans hosts Super Bowl LIX on Feb. 9, 2025, and there are still hundreds of items left to tackle on the combined city and state checklists.

Why it matters: There’s one person who’s got a bird’s eye view of it all, and that person is Greater New Orleans Inc. CEO Michael Hecht.

The big picture: Earlier this summer, Gov. Jeff Landry named Hecht as the state’s Super Bowl coordinator for economic development and infrastructure efforts.

Yes, but: “It’s encouraging because we’re getting things done. … It just takes a little bit of coordination. … But on the flip side, it’s a bit discouraging,” he said. “Because if it’s so darn easy, why aren’t we always doing this?”

By the numbers: There’s a to-do list with about 540 items Hecht said his team created by combining individual versions from city and state entities.

  • Though Hecht declined to share that list with Axios New Orleans, he said about a third of it is French Quarter-focused, and the items range in scope from graffiti abatement to lighting contracts, road and sidewalk repairs, and a sanitation contract coming up for bid around the holidays.
  • About 200 items of the grand total belong to the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board, and Hecht told Axios New Orleans on Monday that about half those are already checked off.
  • Overall completion to date is at about 20% to 25%, Hecht said.

Hecht has three goals, he said, between now and kickoff. They are:

  • “Do a good job hosting.” That means filling potholes and smoothly bringing in large crowds to downtown.
  • “Present an image of New Orleans and Louisiana to the world that transcends the usual cliches and tropes, which are unfortunately those that are associated with the first three blocks of Bourbon.” The “ulterior motive” there, Hecht said, is that “we want to get the next Super Bowl, which is becoming harder and harder because every time somebody builds a $2 billion stadium, even if it’s in Minnesota, they get a Super Bowl.”
  • “Try to create value for New Orleans that lasts for years. … You can see areas and streets that need to be fixed because the last time they were fixed was the 1984 World’s Fair. … You can do things that have decadeslong benefits.”

The bottom line: Hecht tells Axios New Orleans he’s “confident that the vast majority of the most critical projects will be done in time for the Super Bowl.”

  • “It is our intention that this work — both to complete the project list, and to perform ongoing maintenance — will continue the day after the Super Bowl,” he said.
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