Hosts with the most

Houston and New Orleans are the only cities to have hosted as many as five major events in the 21st century. Houston alone has hosted all four and, of course, also was the site of two World Series games in 2005: Houston New Orleans Atlanta 2013, 2002 - 2012, 2003 ’13, ’07, ’02 - 2003 4 fortable we’ve thought of everything and done everything we can do. We just have to hope our competitive advantage will rule the day.” Even better than 2004

The Houston Super Bowl experience in 2017 figures to be night-andday improved from what the owners and out-oftown fans enjoyed in 2004 and, as McNair pointed out, everyone seemed overwhelmingly pleased then. More than $5 billion in public and private money will have been invested in and around downtown Houston since the last game, with a large portion of that spent on the Super Bowl’s epicenter at the George R. Brown Convention Center. Discovery Green — the site of a parking lot nine years ago — provides what all parties are calling a vital focal point.

“It gave us the one thing we didn’t have,” Campo said, “the perfect place for the public to gather with lots of space plus good ingress and egress.”

The new Marriott Marquis Hotel will add significantly to the neighborhood’s aesthetics, never mind lodging capacity around what’s being branded as “Super Bowl El Centro.” With 2,500 rooms adjacent to the George R. Brown, Houston could in theory become the first city to house the NFL headquarters/media center, both Super Bowl teams and the NFL Experience within a short walk of each other, although the participating teams’ coaches might nix that in favor of more tranquil settings for their headquarters. Why “El Centro?” “To showcase our diversity,” Campo said. “We’re expecting a tremendous number of international visitors.” dale.robertson@chron.com twitter.com/sportywineguy