The National Football League season began Thursday night. It concludes here in the Bay Area next February with Super Bowl 50 at Levi’s Stadium.

However, we’ve already seen one big upset:

Despite an expectation that San Francisco would grab all of the attention in the week leading up to the game, South Bay and Silicon Valley interests have managed to claim a huge share of Super Bowl commerce.

The exclamation point of that effort was the NFL front office’s recent decision to stage one of the week’s signature events at SAP Center in downtown San Jose. That would be the annual Media Day, which is open to the public and features Super Bowl players and coaches holding court for media from around the world.

As a new hype-laden twist, the event has also been officially rebranded as “Super Bowl Opening Night” and will take place Monday evening rather than in its traditional Tuesday morning slot. The roughly 5 p.m. Pacific time start will give the NFL Network a chance to broadcast the spectacle in prime time for eastern cities. Tickets for the event will go on sale in October or November.

Yet in the bigger picture, the decision to hold the opening night event in San Jose merely cements the notion that the South Bay has completed a benevolent business takeover of the entire Super Bowl week.

Here is what will happen in San Francisco during Super Bowl week: Corporate parties; a fan festival along the Embarcadero at Justin Herman Plaza; out-of-towners taking selfies at Fisherman’s Wharf; more corporate parties; an interactive fan expo called the NFL Experience; other corporate parties; network anchors doing live reports with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background; and, of course, more corporate parties.

And here is what will happen in the South Bay during Super Bowl week: The “Opening Night” show at SAP Center; the two competing teams staying at local hotels — the Santa Clara Marriott and San Jose Marriott — for the entire week; team practices daily at San Jose State and Stanford; media interview sessions in San Jose and Santa Clara on Wednesday and Thursday; the mammoth pregame tailgate village compound on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium; and, you know, the game itself.

“At the end of the day, this is a Bay Area Super Bowl,” said Peter O’Reilly, the NFL’s senior vice-president of events. “Not only did the South Bay cities want to host events, it made sense to have them there. There are fantastic facilities in the South Bay. They proved strong fits for what we needed.”

Indeed, it’s fascinating how Super Bowl 50 has come to reflect the Bay Area’s regular, everyday 21st-century zeitgeist. In San Francisco, you’ll have all of the touristy stuff and beautiful people trying to look trendy by desperately seeking out hip gatherings and flash mobs. Meanwhile, all of the real business that drives the regional economy will be getting done in Silicon Valley and the South Bay.

In fact, it seems likely that no actual Super Bowl player or coach will ever set foot in San Francisco for the entire time they are in the Bay Area for the game.

And that’s where things could get very interesting, in this sense:

The city of San Francisco will surely reap millions in hotel and restaurant dollars, but it now has no chance to obtain any game-related football elements during Super Bowl week.

On the other hand, San Jose and Santa Clara do have the game and teams in their backyards — and have embarked on a strategy to bring more partying-type stuff (and more hospitality dollars) into the South Bay mix.

Santa Clara has previously announced plans for a major outdoor concert at Mission College, a Pro Football Hall of Fame exhibit at the Triton Museum and a Saturday afternoon family festival at Santa Clara University. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, San Jose officials are formulating specific plans to leverage the presence of the two competing teams into more tourist revenue. How? By encouraging those teams’ followers to show up and revel where their favorite football heroes are staying — and where fans might bump into players at local restaurants or coffee shops.

“We want to up our visitor experience,” said Kim Walesh, San Jose’s deputy city manager and director of economic development.

It was no accident that San Jose became the host city for the NFC representative to the game. The city campaigned for it last spring. Walesh and four other San Jose representatives met with Super Bowl 50 host committee executives. A number of NFL staffers had visited San Jose last winter. They determined that the downtown Marriott setup was perfect in terms of convenience and security. The hotel adjoins the convention center with space for team meetings and large media interview sessions. League staffers also found San Jose State to have very acceptable practice fields and facilities, with the exception of a locker room that did not meet NFL standards.

“How much would that cost to get done?” asked Larry Stone, the Santa Clara County assessor, who was part of the South Bay delegation at the meeting.

The NFL and host committee gave him an estimate of between $50,000 and $100,000. Stone, a well-known South Bay civic sports booster, declared that he could raise the money privately and fairly quickly.

Stone made calls. Barry Swenson, the San Jose builder, promised a substantial check to assist the effort. And as it turned out, San Jose State decided to split the cost of improvements out of the university budget already allocated for maintenance. The project was completed over the summer, with new paint and carpet and the relocation of one locker wall to provide more space in the room.

With that done, the deal was sealed. Walesh’s next step was to form a working Super Bowl group with representatives from the downtown association, the VTA, the chamber of commerce, Mineta San Jose International Airport, the Earthquakes, the Sharks, Santana Row and others. The general idea is to maximize downtown San Jose’s ability to host and entertain fans of the NFC team that will occupy the downtown Marriott as well as fans of the AFC team that will stay a few miles away at the Santa Clara Marriott.

Plans are still being developed. But Plaza de Cesar Chavez will transition from Christmas in the Park to some sort of Super Bowl and football celebration zone with music and various attractions. The outdoor ice skating rink between the Fairmont and San Jose Museum of Art will remain in business through Super Bowl weekend. The usual South First Friday street and gallery happening will be incorporated into the picture. And you can look for Mayor Sam Liccardo to call up the mayor of the participating NFC city to invite him and his constituents to San Jose. Santa Clara Mayor Jamie Matthews might do the same for the mayor of the AFC city.

Their pitch will be simple: San Jose and Santa Clara are closer to the game. And if fans do want to visit San Francisco’s tourist attractions, they can do so easily by riding Caltrain north to do some sightseeing before returning to the South Bay for lodging and partying. Why, fans might even see their favorite quarterback at Starbucks!

And as Super Sunday approaches … well, the South Bay is far more convenient logistically to Levi’s Stadium, via VTA and public transit.

San Francisco is surely jealous of all this. But give that fine city credit for handling the situation in such an adult manner. San Jose and Santa Clara are being kind enough to let their northern neighbor enjoy Super Bowl week, even if nothing truly football-meaty is happening up there. San Francisco is happy to admire itself in the mirror and pursue trendiness. Silicon Valley is happy to do the heavy lifting with the true business at hand. It’s the Bay Area mojo as usual. And it’s nice to see everybody getting along so darned well.

Contact Mark Purdy at mpurdy@mercurynews.com. Follow him at Twitter.com/MercPurdy.