The orchids are dying, and Cliff Jacobs blames the Super Bowl.

No, the kickoff is not until Sunday. What is killing the orchids, he said, is Super Bowl Boulevard, the urban theme park celebrating the big game that was constructed on 14 blocks of Broadway that were closed to traffic on Monday.

Whenever the door opens in the flower shop he runs, at 1407 Broadway, at West 38th Street, cold air blasts in. This week, the door has been opened not by people who want bouquets, but by people who want warmth after standing a little too long on Super Bowl Boulevard.

On the wide new stages that have gone up on Super Bowl Boulevard — and in the tents and on the toboggan run, tall but temporary — the theme is fun: the fun of the Super Bowl, the first ever played in the New York area; the fun of big-name celebrities; the fun of crowds. But in shops like the one Mr. Jacobs works in, and in the back seats of taxis inching along side streets — and in the front seats, after impatient passengers start yelling at the drivers — the theme is misery.