When the Super Bowl descends on Manhattan (sort of) in 2014, one of the staples of the experience won’t be experienced.
According to Terry Lefton of SportsBusiness Journal, the NFL Experience will be omitted from next year’s event, for the first time since it was launched in 1992. Per Lefton, organizers couldn’t find a suitable location for the square footage consumed by one of the league’s premier fan interaction activities.
The NFL Experience will be replaced by the Super Bowl Boulevard, a 10-block stretch of Broadway from 34th to 44th Street. However, the cross streets won’t be shut down. (Good for traffic, bad for creating an uninterrupted 10-block NFL neighborhood.)
The situation impacts both fans and sponsors, who flood the NFL Experience with their products and logos and salespeople. But it’s just part of the unique nature of the New York Super Bowl experience.
In the end, plenty of folks may be hoping that it remains unique.
