Next year’s Super Bowl

For New Orleans, game ‘ will tell us we’re back’

INDIANAPOLIS— It has taken years for New Orleans to move on after the death and destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina on Aug. 29, 2005. Local officials hope the arrival of Super Bowl XLVII next February finally will allow the Big Easy to breathe easy again.

“It will tell us we’re back,” said James Carville, co- chairman of the host committee with his wife, Mary Matalin. “Part of our message is going to be to our people. This will help bring some closure.”

The Super Bowl is expected to provide an enormous economic boost, especially because it is preceded by the NCAA men’s Final Four this year and followed by the women’s Final Four in 2013. The host committee estimates the economic impact of the three events will exceed $ 1 billion, with the NFL title game accounting for most of that.

Although New Orleans will match South Florida for most Super Bowls hosted with 10, the city’s last big game was Feb. 3, 2002, when the Patriots upset the St. Louis Rams.

Visitors will see a changed city. According to Carville, population decreased 125,000 to about 350,000. He acknowledged that some neighborhoods might never be what they once were.

“One- third of the city is probably better than it was, one- third is going to be better and one- third of the impacted areas had a lot of water for a long period of time,” he said.

Willingness to invest $ 336 million in what now is the MercedesBenz Superdome resulted in an expanded plaza level concourse, additional seating with improved sightlines, two new VIP lounges and 16 new luxury box suites.

“We’re a city where tourism and image are very important. I don’t know how you calculate the value of the advertising the Super Bowl gives you,” Carville said.