Muni wires won’t be coming down for S.F.’s Super Bowl party

Market Street will be shut down east of Beale Street for Super Bowl City, but Muni lines will continue to run. Market Street will be shut down east of Beale Street for Super Bowl City, but Muni lines will continue to run. Photo: Hand Out, Courtesy Super Bowl 50 Host Comm Photo: Hand Out, Courtesy Super Bowl 50 Host Comm Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Muni wires won’t be coming down for S.F.’s Super Bowl party 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

The big Super Bowl celebrations in San Francisco won’t shut down Muni service downtown after all.

The Super Bowl 50 Host Committee and the city ditched a proposed plan to shut down Muni service on the roughly two blocks of Market Street between Beale Street and Justin Herman Plaza where festivities are planned. About a dozen Muni lines would have been affected.

“It would have been too disruptive for Muni operations, and the groups jointly decided not to pursue that plan,” said Christine Falvey, Mayor Ed Lee’s spokeswoman. “The footprint of the event will be reconfigured to accommodate Super Bowl City.”

The eight-day party in February will include a theme park, interactive exhibits and football-related games.

It is being organized and paid for by the Super Bowl 50 Host Committee, a group of private donors raising money to bring the game to the Bay Area. The actual football game will be played at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.

“After working very closely with Muni on this issue we decided that the smart solution is to reconfigure Super Bowl City so the structures that would have interfered with the wires will be moved to another location close by,” committee spokesman Nathan Ballard said.

Supervisors Malia Cohen and Jane Kim will hold a hearing Dec. 7 on Super Bowl planning that will include concerns about security after the terrorist attacks in Paris last week.