Arena Bowl brings smile to New Orleans economy

In a city that has hosted Super Bowls, Bowl Championship Series title games, Final Fours and the NBA All-Star game, the lesser-known Arena Bowl is the little game that could.

Tourism officials say it will draw a welcome injection of visitors spending money at a time of year when soaring temperatures and high humidity chase tourists to the beach.

"It means a lot," said Mary Beth Romig, spokeswoman for the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau. "It especially means a lot on a slow summer weekend where every visitor counts."

The Arena Football League's 22nd annual championship is expected to draw thousands of visitors. The game and the National Conference of State Legislatures convention with 6,000 attendees in town this week make for a back-to-back boost for the city's economy.

New Orleans is hosting the Arena Bowl for the second consecutive year. Sunday's game matches the Philadelphia Soul (15-3) against the San Jose SaberCats (13-5). It caps three days of events, including a free concert by Grammy winner Huey Lewis and The News and the ArenaBall Awards Gala, which, at $200 a ticket, is sold out with 1,500 attendees.

Game tickets are priced at $18 to $400. The league expects all 17,000 seats to be sold by the 3 p.m. EDT kickoff at the New Orleans Arena.

"It's the perfect event for this time of year," said Jay Cicero of the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation. "End of July, first of August is a very slow time for New Orleans' tourist industry."

The Sports Foundation estimates the event will have an economic impact of $15 million to $25 million.

By comparison, Romig said, the Sugar Bowl has an annual impact of about $200 million. With the addition of the BCS championship game in January 2008, the take for the two games approached $400 million.

A Super Bowl could bring more than $500 million to the city.

But the Arena Bowl's relatively modest effect is still welcome, said Martin Driskell, general manager of the downtown Hotel InterContinental.

"With the Arena Bowl in town, I'm already at 95 percent occupancy for the weekend and should sell out Sunday night," Driskell said. "And the nice thing is that it's an extended stay. A lot of people staying three or four nights. Monday night we're at 88 percent occupancy. And that's phenomenal for July."

Sideshows associated with the game should draw visitors and locals to the French Quarter, Romig said.

"A free concert and fireworks on Saturday night will bring people out," she said.

Walt Disney Co.-owned ESPN's telecast of the Arena Bowl also will give the city a needed boost, Romig said.

"The broadcasts always highlight some of our unique points," she said.

That's important for New Orleans, which fights dual perceptions that it is overrun with crime and still in ruins in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.