I’ve never been to Times Square.
But it looked like the Times Square you see in movies, or during New Year’s Eve on TV. It’s the bustling city of a million lights, a million sounds, a million sights and a million people. While walking around downtown Saturday there were times I felt lost, as if I had been transported to a completely different city altogether.
Yes, Super Bowl Central set up camp in downtown Phoenix last week. And it was an extreme spectacle. There was nothing like it before, and there won’t be anything like it here for a long time to come.
And whether you like football or not, whether you like the blatant exposure of corporate advertising or not, whether you like the takeover by masses of tourists or not, you can agree that it revitalized downtown in a way no one had expected.
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I saw buildings draped in advertising, for better or for worse. I saw people falling and gliding in a makeshift skating rink. I stepped on one, then two, then three, then four, then more sets of feet. Men in cheap suits were actually giving me coupons to get into downtown night clubs, like we were in Vegas or, closer to home, Mill Avenue in Tempe.
I heard The Roots play a joyful outdoor concert for thousands of people, for free. I saw fireworks light up the night sky. I saw blind people, old people, wheelchairs, strollers and a couple of dudes in gorilla suits. I overheard the confused dialogue of tourists, from the Valley and beyond, arguing which direction they needed to go to get to Washington Street.
I also saw people unconscious on the ground. I saw empty beer cans and bottles strewn across the city floors. I heard catcalls and expletives, witnessed fights and sloppy makeouts. I saw people climb a goofy fake Grand Canyon wall, and likely saw more people drunk than sober. (I also heard, as many other people did yesterday, about alleged solicitation of a prostitute in a nearby downtown Phoenix hotel; involving a former NFL superstar, no less.)
It’s likely that, if you were downtown for the Super Bowl festivities, you saw these things too.
Even areas outside Super Bowl Central came alive. There was human foosball at Kitchen Sink Studios and a pop-up welcome center on Roosevelt Row. There were sweet food deals in community favorites like Jobot Coffee and Dining and Welcome Diner. There was a local music festival at Civic Space Park, a dance party in the Phoenix Public Market lot and a pop-up market next to the GreenHaus gallery and boutique — and that was more than a week before the Super Bowl even happened!
It was as if some spirit breathed life into these businesses, to make themselves more accessible to newcomers. I wouldn’t call that selling out — that’s called playing to your advantage.
The phrase I heard the most summed up the experience best: “This is what a downtown should look like.”
I worry that downtown Phoenix is too accustomed to the quiet weekday nights. I worry that people near but outside the city proper don’t think of downtown when they make plans to go out. I worry that people don’t fight hard enough, or in the proper way, to make the city a beautiful place to live, somewhere residents can be proud of.
Sometimes my friends and I stand on our balcony and look at the city blocks, hoping we catch sight of at least one person walking around. A lot of the time, that’s not the case.
Thanks to America’s obsession with the sport (and business) of football, we were able to see downtown Phoenix in a new light. This was an event that made the area rival great downtowns of the nation: Seattle, Chicago and, yes, my fictional Times Square. For a few days, downtown felt dense and vibrant, and the crowds made it seem like the night would never end. (Bear with the cheesiness, please.)
Many others worry about big events like this. They sigh at the giant Pepsi and Tostito advertisements and roll their eyes at the huge “XLIV” roman numerals next to CityScape. Believe me, I wasn’t so thrilled when I saw them first either. But in the end, it wasn’t the structures or signs that made downtown feel new: It was the people and the energy they carried with them.
Of course, this is going to be one of the biggest events the city of Phoenix gets for quite a while (RIP Glendale). In the United States, there is hardly a bigger almost-national holiday than the Super Bowl.
So how can we capture something like this again?
Maybe we need to bring more events downtown. Maybe more restaurants and shops should extend their hours for more late-night activity. Maybe the city should choose the right developers, who can choose the right projects to build in the right sections of the city. Maybe you doing your part and inviting all your friends to come eat, drink, party, look at art, invest, learn about and embrace what could be downtown Phoenix.
And there are chances for the city to temporarily transform again. After all, there is the VIVA PHX music festival in March, with 15 different stages set up across downtown Phoenix. And there’s always this summer’s Comicon, which brings some of the most eccentric fun downtown sees each year. The next time Arizona can bid for the Super Bowl is 2020, but I hope that’s not the next time we see the energy of these crowds return to the city.
The craziness that was the 49th Super Bowl is over. The ads are down, the stages are mostly deconstructed and tourists returned home.
I only hope the city can see a glimpse of this again, because it was a pleasure to experience this weekend with my community downtown.
Contact the author at motarola@asu.edu
