Killion: Super Bowl 50 will mean hype, headaches for Bay Area

Fireworks explode over pop star sensation Katy Perry's performance during Super Bowl XLIX's Halftime Show Sunday in Glendale, AZ. Super Bowl 50 will take place at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara in 2016.

Fireworks explode over pop star sensation Katy Perry's performance during Super Bowl XLIX's Halftime Show Sunday in Glendale, AZ. Super Bowl 50 will take place at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara in 2016. Photo: JORDAN STEAD, SEATTLEPI.COM Photo: JORDAN STEAD, SEATTLEPI.COM Image 1 of / 95 Caption Close Killion: Super Bowl 50 will mean hype, headaches for Bay Area 1 / 95 Back to Gallery

It isn’t quite as dramatic as the closing ceremony of every Olympic Games when the torch is literally passed to the next host city.

But, figuratively, that’s what happened Sunday night as they swept up the confetti at University of Phoenix Stadium. The torch was passed.

San Francisco, you’re up.

Super Bowl 50 (and yes, it will be a number, not a Roman numeral, probably because Super Bowl L has the wrong connotation) will be held Feb. 7, 2016.

Technically, it’s the “San Francisco Bay Area” Super Bowl. But in truth, most of the events will be in San Francisco. Just as the events of the past week were held in Phoenix or Scottsdale and not in Glendale, Ariz., an unremarkable town 16 miles northwest of downtown Phoenix.

Recommended Video:

Super Bowl 50 will be at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, but the NFL, the media and the fans won’t be congregating in the South Bay. They will be in San Francisco. The pictures broadcast to the world will be of the Golden Gate Bridge and cable cars, not of the roller coaster at Great America.

The media center and NFL Experience will be located at Moscone Center. The Fan Village probably will be somewhere along the Embarcadero. The big-league Friday night party will be at City Hall. And it sounds as if the host committee is planning to make sure that most of the other locations, like the site of media day and the team hotels where interviews take place all week until Friday, will be in or near San Francisco to cut down on travel times.

So, yes, the people who will be most inconvenienced with traffic, crowds and Super Bowl hype will be in San Francisco, not in Santa Clara.

Jed York told the Mercury News last week that one of his main jobs while he was visiting Phoenix with the host committee was answering for NFL people such questions as, “What are the differences between Santa Clara and San Francisco? How close are they? How can we connect things?”

The answers, of course, are: There are many differences, not close at all, it will be tough.

Levi’s Stadium is 42.5 miles from Moscone Center. That’s a long way to travel (in contrast, MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, site of last year’s Super Bowl, is 8.3 miles from Times Square).

Is hosting this event going to be worth it? Probably not. Though Santa Clara, a city of 120,000, might desire a signature event to put it on the map, San Francisco is already on the map. The city is bursting at the seams with visitors and conventions every week and doesn’t need a big football game to attract attention or make money.

In fact, it’s probably going to cost the city money to play host to a game sponsored by a team that abandoned it to move an hour south.

In the past week, there were plenty of examinations of the economic benefits of hosting a Super Bowl. The conclusion: There are none, especially in a city with a thriving economy. The Super Bowl displaces other visitors and conventions. Independent studies by sports economists such as Lake Forest College’s Robert Baade, Holy Cross’ Victor Matheson and the University of South Florida’s Philip Porter have shown that the game traditionally brings in only a fraction of the income gains that the NFL has claimed.

The mayor of Glendale, Jerry Weiers, made news during Super Bowl week by saying that his city of 235,000 was going to lose money on the game. He expects Glendale to be out $3 million to cover public-safety costs.

According to The Chronicle’s Matier & Ross, Santa Clara expects to be reimbursed for those costs associated with the game — but San Francisco probably will have to cover its own expenses for police and other city employees, a tab that could run well over $2 million for the weeklong event.

The San Francisco host committee is in the process of raising $40 million for next year’s game, earmarking 25 percent of that amount to local nonprofits. Which is a noble effort.

But the non-noble excess of the Super Bowl will be on full display. Tickets for Sunday’s game in Arizona were going, on the secondary market, for $9,000. Each. No kidding. Those prices will fit smoothly into the elitist vibe that Levi’s established in its first season; the wealthy patrons in the best seats didn’t actually sit in their seats and watch the game.

There will be other concerns about Levi’s Stadium, which has a year to work out its many glitches. Hopefully, a functional field will have taken root by then. If our recent January and early February weather holds true, there might be concerns about overheated patrons on the east side of the stadium at kickoff time. The use of buses to bring people from San Francisco probably will cut down on the traffic issues.

The last time the Bay Area hosted a Super Bowl — 30 years ago, Jan. 20, 1985 — the face value of tickets was $60 and the fans sat on the wooden benches at Stanford Stadium. That year, the 49ers played the Dolphins in the Super Bowl, a matchup that certainly eased some of the inconvenience to locals.

But if you’re wagering on next year’s game, the smart bet is probably no local team, but plenty of inconvenience. Super Bowl 50, you’re on the clock.

Ann Killion is a San Francisco Chronicle staff columnist. E-mail: akillion@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @annkillion