SAN FRANCISCO — Last week’s Super Bowl festivities in San Francisco drew thousands of visitors and, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, challenged long-standing conservative narratives about the city as sports broadcasters who had previously criticized it reported positive experiences.
Harry Mok, assistant editor and opinion columnist at the San Francisco Chronicle, wrote that “most people visiting San Francisco for last week’s [Super Bowl] festivities had a good time, even the conservative-leaning sports broadcasters who have pushed the narrative that the city is awful.”
The Guardian referred to the “rightwing sports bro,” including figures such as ESPN’s Pat McAfee and former NFL players Will Compton and Talor Lewan of the show “Bussin’ With the Boys.” Katie Dowd, managing editor at SFGate, reported they “have a reputation for controversial takes, casual sexism and generally aligning with the right — a group that tends to look upon San Francisco pretty unfavorably.”
After previously calling San Francisco “a s—hole,” Mok reported that McAfee said he was “surprised by what [they] had been told and expected versus when [they walked] through the streets.”
The Chronicle found the city is still recovering from COVID-19, which it said caused the “largest disruption to the social and economic health of downtown since the 1906 and 1989 earthquakes.” The paper added that for “dead spaces like the San Francisco Centre mall or the city’s abundant older but unwanted office buildings, a solution seems as far away as ever.”
According to SPUR, a nonprofit public policy organization, the city’s economic engine is “powered by 70% of the city’s office space, 42% of its small businesses, 65% of its hotel rooms and 40% of its workforce.” Mok wrote this dynamic causes the city’s budget to “[suffer] as a consequence” when it is “[throwing] a fine Super Bowl party.”
Mok questioned what San Francisco should do “with downtown’s empty office buildings, and how can the city revitalize the economy of the area.”
SPUR proposed the creation of a newly-formed “downtown revitalization authority” that “would be staffed by a multidisciplinary team and expressly designed to execute publicly approved plans, provide financing and incentives for catalytic projects, deliver public realm improvements and operate for 20 years to oversee long-term projects.”
The San Francisco Planning Department envisioned a “Roadmap to San Francisco’s Future,” highlighting downtown as “everyone’s neighborhood,” and referenced then-Mayor London Breed’s goal of “bringing 30,000 residents and students to the area by 2030.”
The Chronicle’s SF Next project proposed a Resilience and Development Authority “which would be entirely focused on a future downtown that serves residents and workers alike.” The paper noted other cities, including New York, created a “similar entity to address its rebuilding needs post-9/11.”
The Urban Land Institute “convened a panel of advisers who recommended forming an independent downtown revitalization authority with the capability to plan and finance real estate projects, infrastructure, and office-to-residential conversions and to support priorities such as arts, culture and small businesses.”
Mok wrote that the city of San Francisco “wasn’t the only thing the Super Bowl opened many people’s eyes about.”
He added that “you don’t need to understand song lyrics or historical and cultural references to be moved and entertained.”
On Truth Social, Trump wrote about Bad Bunny’s concert, calling it “[a]bsloutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER! It makes no sense, is an affront to the Greatness of America, and doesn’t represent our standards of Success, Creativity, or Excellence. Nobody understands a word this guy is saying.”
Jack Ohman, a contributing columnist and political cartoonist, wrote that “Trump’s dumpster fire presidency no longer makes any pretense; it’s all racism, all the time.” He traced Trump’s history of racist rhetoric from the Central Park Five case to conspiracies about Barack Obama to posting a video depicting the former president and Michelle Obama as apes.
Mok wrote this stood in contrast to how Bad Bunny concluded his halftime performance, raising a football with the phrase “Together, We Are America” on it for the camera, while the Levi’s Stadium jumbotron displayed a line from his acceptance speech: “The only thing more powerful than hate is love.”
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” . . . pushed the narrative that the city is awful.”
That’s because the City has been awful. It’s been getting better the last couple of years, and it’s noticeable. So maybe they didn’t push the narrative because S.F. is much better.
I completely didn’t get the swerve at the end to ‘Trump has said awful things and is a racist’. Did the author write two articles and forget to separate them?
Well, Keion White, a 49ers defensive lineman, did get shot on Mission Street in San Francisco at a post game party. That’s the second 49er to get shot in S.F. in the last couple of years. Not a good look.
https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/49ers-keion-white-recovering-after-san-francisco-party-shooting/
San Francisco has one of the lowest violent crime rates Among major cities
How many NFL teams have had players get shot in the last few years in the team’s home city?
Excellent article, Jimena 👍