How’d Houston Do? Visitors Give the Bayou City High Marks As Super Bowl Host City

HOUSTON, TX -- The dust has barely settled on the biggest NFL game of the season, but people are still talking about the days leading up to Super Bowl 51, and there’s no doubt that Houston set the bar high for other potential Super Bowl host cities.

“We had a spectacular week here in Houston,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Monday. “All of the events were just very well received here, and I think globally.”

The game was understandably the best ever played by many standards, and featured the top quarterback-coaching tandem in Tom Brady and Bill Belichick coming from behind in the only overtime played in the Super Bowl era.

Still, the efforts of the leaders in Houston, who made it their mission to showcase America’s 4th largest city, didn’t go unnoticed.

“These types of events, when you have this many people coming together, it's difficult to do and it's difficult to do it with the kind of talent and expertise you saw, and that's attributed to the people here in Houston,” Goodell said. “It was just an extraordinary effort, and they set a new bar for this event.”

The city has been preparing to host the Super Bowl since 2014, and has not only spent a considerable amount of time marketing for Super Bowl LI, but also marketing the city and the surrounding community in preparation for the big game.

In the days leading up to the Super Bowl, the city hosted the NFL Experience at the George R. Brown Convention Center, and the Super Bowl LIVE, a free fan festival at Discovery Green id downtown Houston.

Super Bowl Live drew hundreds of thousands of visitors alone, with many heaping praise on the city for the overall friendliness of Houston.

“This was my first time to Texas and, obviously, Houston and it’s a beautiful city and everyone here has been nothing but kind and friendly,” said Pauline Robertson, a Patriots fan from Boston told KPRC. “It’s nice to have a breath of fresh air, to visit an amazing city.”

Other events, such as Club Nomadic, which drew 27,000 patrons and hosted three days of big named musical talent that included The Chainsmokers, Bruno Mars and Taylor Swift.

The City of Sugar Land, which is among the most rapidly growing communities in Greater Houston, was among several gateway communities that saw heavy traffic through the Sugar Land Regional Airport, with hundreds of additional private aircraft expected to use the facilities outside of Bush Intercontinental Airport in Humble, and Hobby Airport in south Houston

The day after the most exciting Super Bowl game ever played, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner handed off the Super Bowl to Minneapolis, Minnesota for Super Bowl LII, and let the NFL know they should considering having the Super Bowl in Houston again.

"I hope that before I leave as mayor, let me just put my own plug in, I'll have the opportunity to be the mayor and host you again," Turner said.

No word yet, when that will happen.

Image/urban houstonian via Flickr

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