ATLANTA — We are counting down to Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta. There are less than two months until the big game!
Channel 2 Action News has new insight on how much money it will mean for people in the city.
“In the immediate downtown area, it’s almost immeasurable, the impact," Hyatt Regency general manager Peter McMahon said.
McMahon and his staff have been preparing for the Super Bowl for a few years, but in the past six months, they've been working even harder.
“We’ve been going into overdrive, and we meet weekly, and really at this point, it’s almost daily, preparing for the big event,” he said.
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McMahon said the Hyatt's nearly 1,300 guest rooms have been sold out all year.
"It's a major economic impact, and that's just for us. For the city alone, it could be in excess of $200 million," McMahon said.
Channel 2's Rikki Klaus called a Georgia State University economics professor, who predicted the numbers for the Atlanta Football Host Committee and Department of Revenue.
Bruce Seaman predicts metro Atlanta hotels will generate $33 million during the Super Bowl. That includes the bed tax.
"It's really a tax that benefits everybody, and it's generally paid by people from outside the city," Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau President William Pate said.
Pate broke down where the money goes.
"Some of the money comes to the bureau. Some of the money goes into the general fund in the city. Some goes to the convention center," Pate said.
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Blake Reiter, with the hotel data provider STR, said his company released a study this week that predicts an average $90 Atlanta hotel room will skyrocket to an average rate of about $271.
"That weekend is going to be very, very fruitful for hoteliers, hotel owners and operators, for sure," Reiter said.
Pate said more than 100 Atlanta hotels blocked off rooms for the Super Bowl. He said most of those hotels are sold out, but there are still rooms available near the security perimeter.
Cox Media Group
