NFL Called for Intentional Grounding, Penalty is Loss of Credibility

Back in 2012, the NRL was eager to tout the urbanist pleasures of Superbowl XLVI in Indianapolis, where many of Superbowl week venues, including the stadium, were within walkable distance of the host hotels.  Four years later, the NFL keeps stubbing its urbanist toe.

The first urbanist bust was at Superbowl XLVIII.  The NFL failed to account for the increasing use of transit to reach major sporting events and gave New Jersey transportation officials bad estimates of the division between car passengers and transit riders for game day planning.  When far more fans used transit than expected, the results were overcrowded cars and long wait times.

 And now, in the run-up to Superbowl L, the NFL has misread the changing urban realities once again.

Having decided that most Superbowl festivities should be in San Francisco, rather than 45 miles south in Santa Clara where Levi’s Stadium is located, NFL officials have been meeting with representatives of the City of San Francisco to discuss event coordination.  One request recently made of the City was for the temporary removal of the overhead electric bus wires along Market Street.

I understand the motivation behind the request.  The overhead wires are ugly and detract from the vista down Market Street toward the Ferry Building and San Francisco Bay.  I’ll celebrate on the day when evolving technology allows the wires to be removed.

But until then, the overhead wires and the buses fed by them are key links in the San Francisco transit system.  While the NFL reportedly offered to reimburse the City for the estimated $1 million cost to remove and later replace the wires, no acknowledgments were offered to the commuters or businesses who would be inconvenienced by the weeks when the transit system would be compromised.

Luckily for all, the NFL recognized the problems with the request and soon withdrew it.  But having made the request at all shows urban colorblindness in NFL headquarters.

Choosing San Francisco over Santa Clara as the center of Superbowl festivities correctly acknowledged the fundamental role of major cities.  But cities are multi-layered entities with complex internal logic.  To blithely tinker with one element, such as a portion of the transit system, without trying to understand the integrated whole was akin to buying the Mona Lisa because of her enigmatic smile, but with the intention of adding braces.

It’s not that cities can’t be modified.  Indeed, they can be and must be.   But those changes must be carefully proposed and vetted considering all the ramifications, not suggested only to provide better photo opportunities for a week of football tourists.

Hopefully, the NFL will begin to grasp that urban reality before Superbowl LI.

Milestone Note: The first post in this blog was published on the Monday after the Thanksgiving weekend of 2011.  Thus, this post is the end of my fourth year.  When I began, I had no expectation of how long I would continue.  But I kept finding topics about which I wanted to write and somehow the years passed by.

Thanks for coming along, reading, commenting, and being tolerant when I struggled to find my voice.

I have no plans yet to cease my efforts.  Instead, I’ll be back here in couple of days, starting my fifth year.  I hope you’ll be here also.  And if you want to bring a friend, I wouldn’t complain.

Speaking of coming back, my next post will be a look back at Black Friday Parking, with thoughts on my personal interaction with an over-filled parking lot and links to some of the better writing on the subject by others.

As always, your questions or comments will be appreciated.  Please comment below or email me.  And thanks for reading. - Dave Alden (davealden53@comcast.net)

Urbanism 7, National Football League 0

A couple of years ago, I wrote about the rave reviews garnered by urbanism as a result of Superbowl XLVI in Indianapolis.  The game was played at a stadium within the downtown core, with many fans able to walk from their hotels.

I remain more of a World Series person, but certainly noted that the most recent Superbowl also attracted urbanist attention, although not as uniformly positive.  (Also, it was Seattle where I first fell in love with an urban setting, so writing this post is my way of saluting a city of which I hold fond memories.)

The first Superbowl story was the one out of New Jersey about the transit overloading that occurred after the game.  The initial versions of the story criticized local transit authorities for not having sufficient capacity available.  Having stood on a few BART platforms after Cal football and A’s baseball games, I was dismissive of the comments.  After all, it isn’t possible for a system sized for weekday commuter loads to cover special events.

But then the full story emerged.  The NFL had advised the transit agency of how many riders to expect.  The NFL folks assumed that as many people as possible would drive cars or ride charter buses, with only the remnant riding rail transit.

To no surprise of those who have watching the slowly growing love affair between the public, especially the younger segments, and transit, the modal split didn’t work out that way.  Many folks decided to take the train, more than twice as many as the NFL had expected.

Although not fun to the folks jammed on the platform, it was great demonstration of how a growing number of people expect to get around, even if the NFL was clueless.  After all, if the NFL is going to remain thirty years behind the times on head injuries, it’d probably be unrealistic to expect them to anticipate urbanism.

Switching the scene to Seattle, the post-championship parade offered an opportunity for downtown Seattle to shine.  It succeeded admirably.  Families thronged into the city, resulting in huge absentee rates in suburban school districts.  And many used the multiple transit systems available, keeping the city functioning under extreme conditions.

The Atlantic Cities article about the parade is something of a puff piece.  Similar comments could have been made about many championship parades, including the recent World Series parades in San Francisco.  But the author was presumably intoxicated by the joy of sharing a jubilant sidewalk with fellow city dwellers.  And that kind of intoxication is perfectly forgivable.

Just wait until the Mariners win their first title.  That will truly be a party.

As always, your questions or comments will be appreciated.  Please comment below or email me.  And thanks for reading. - Dave Alden (davealden53@comcast.net)