Is hosting big game a win for Phoenix suburb?

All three immediately jacked up prices for the Super Bowl rush. Hampton Inn, for example, has no vacancies for Super Bowl weekend despite boosting its nightly rates from about $219 to $799.

Tim Hogan, an economist at Arizona State's W.P. Carey School of Business, said the Super Bowl has a huge economic impact, comparable to an entire year's worth of NASCAR and other events at Phoenix International Raceway.

Hogan, who in 1996 studied the spending habits of tourists attending the Super Bowl in Tempe, said sports fans showing up in Glendale are the perfect demographic for making money. "They're big spenders," he said. "And unlike a Cardinals game, pretty much everybody is from out of town."

Super Bowl tourists not only give a short-term boost to restaurants and hotels, but they help drive the rest of the economy by creating a greater demand for companies that supply goods to restaurants and hotels, Hogan said.

Still, he said the net Super Bowl income for the local economy is likely to be much less than advertised, given the amount the cities are spending to prepare for the game. "The net impact is not going to be $400 million," he said.

Arizona's Joint Legislative Budget Committee estimates that spending by Super Bowl tourists will boost state sales taxes by $3.6 million to $5.5 million. That's based on an assumption that 90 percent of people at the game will come from another state and that another 17,000 will come to Arizona without tickets simply to take part in the festivities.

Many industries have greeted them with huge price markups.

Renting an economy car from Thursday through Super Bowl Sunday will cost $415, more than twice as much as during the same period a week later, according to searches Monday on the travel Web site Expedia.com. A four-day luxury car rental was offered for $750, almost double what it would cost the next week.

Arizona Limousines, a chauffeur service catering to corporate clients and people in the entertainment business, is charging $1,200 to drive people to the game and other spots around town Sunday. That's up from $480 for Cardinals games.

Company owner Gene Pierpoint said his markup was reasonable, given his extra overhead during Super Bowl week: renting additional vehicles, hiring temporary drivers, buying $9,000 in parking passes for the stadium grounds and getting hotel rooms for the additional chauffeurs.

"I don't think any of our reservationists have had anybody object to the rates," Pierpoint said.

Across Phoenix, tourists have snapped up most of the metro area's 55,000 hotel rooms. Hotels and resorts still have vacancies, but they're being offered at rates unheard of outside of Super Bowl week.

For example, a modest hotel in suburban Mesa was offering a standard room for $800 for a four-night stay _ $300 more than its room rates the following week. On the high-end of the available hotels, a two-bedroom suite at a Phoenix resort was listed at $2,975 for a four-day stay.

Debbie Johnson, president and chief executive of the Arizona Hotel and Lodging Association, said it's fair for hotels to charge 10 percent to 20 percent more than usual, considering metro Phoenix is hosting both the Super Bowl and FBR Open golf tournament this weekend during its peak tourist season.

But the small portion of hotels that doubled their prices are gouging customers and might be hurting the state's chances at getting other marquee sporting events, Johnson said.

Even before the Super Bowl starts, Beasley said it's been a huge success for Glendale. He said it's already focused international attention on the city, and a few five-star hotels and resorts have recently started looking to build there.

City manager Beasley said city leaders now are eyeing an expanse of undeveloped desert that the city recently annexed. "Successful communities never stop," he said.

"They just evolve into the next phase."

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