Gov. Christie: Super Bowl XLVIII Will Help 'Turn The Page' From Superstorm Sandy
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- With Super Bowl XLVII in the books, the attention now turns to Super Bowl XLVIII, which will be held at MetLife Stadium on February 2, 2014.
Following the devastation of Superstorm Sandy, New Jersey governor Chris Christie is hopeful that the big game in East Rutherford will further help the healing process in the wake of the storm.
"There's an economic boost, and that's measurable, but also I think it's a psychological boost," Christie said on Sunday, according to The Star-Ledger. "I think by next February, you'll see that New Jersey will have recovered a good amount from the storm, and it will be a good way to turn the page from being victims to being survivors and thrivers. And that's what we're going to be hoping to do by next February."
The NFL would have had the coldest Super Bowl had the game been played at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, when temperatures were below freezing in the New York-New Jersey area.
Roughly 1,300 miles away in New Orleans, Al Kelly wrapped up a week of work.
The chief executive and president of the organizing committee for the 2014 Super Bowl, Kelly has laid the groundwork for the first cold-weather Super Bowl and the first one to be played in a stadium that serves as the home for two teams, the Giants and Jets. The former American Express executive now has a year to make sure everything comes together.
The countdown has started on the game that many worry will return football to the old days, and whims of elements.
Giants co-owner Jonathan Tisch revealed that the idea of a New York/New Jersey Super Bowl originally came into play following the September 11th terrorist attacks, and he agrees that hosting this illustrious event will be terrific for the community.
"We understand tourism, we understand the positive benefits, the economic development that can flow from an event like the Super Bowl," Tisch said, according to The Star-Ledger. "We are currently dealing with challenges that are wrought by Mother Nature ... The power of travel and tourism, the power of sports, can make it all better."
Kelly and 16 members of his team visited every Super Bowl site in New Orleans this past week, sat in on all the meetings and walked the streets to see how things were going. The goal is to be prepared for 200,000-plus people to descend on the NY-NJ area and to offer them the opportunity to have some fun, spend some money and benefit the region
Christie is supremely confident that Super Bowl XLVIII will be a tremendous success,and he believes that it could be the first of many Super Bowls in The Garden State.
"Ours is going to be so good, they're going to be begging us to take it again," Christie said. "If it's going to be the first cold-weather Super Bowl, then it should be in our region, and we certainly want to do it the right way."
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