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Mix and match Cool South Beach, corporate Super Bowl getting along fine
Posted: Thursday January 28, 1999 08:35 PM
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (CNN/SI) -- Amid all the pastels and neon of South Beach, in between the nipple rings and the in-line skaters, right there next to the art deco hotels and the Versace mansion, Super Bowl XXXIII is elbowing its way into the cool capital of South Florida. So far, the two are getting along swimmingly. "They're here to party," said Philipe Babin, who has run a string of restaurants on Ocean Drive for the past four years. "So they don't care. These people are going to spend money. So it's going to be huge." If there's one thing that ties the two SBs together, it is money. The trendy hotels, shops and restaurants along what is informally known as "Deco Drive" live on the stuff. The corporate-minded NFL makes it hand over fist.
So, for a week or so in sunny Florida every few years, Wall Street is dropped into the middle of South Park, jocks and jock-lovers rub elbows with anti-jocks -- and everyone, it seems, has a wonderful time. It is, for sure, a strange meeting of worlds. TV cameramen and newspaper photographers are on every corner. A major sports network has a set on the beach. Limousines line the streets. Beer ads are everywhere, including on the skimpy bikinis of women strutting the sidewalks. Cell phones are commonplace. Bronzed locals fly by on their in-line skates. Model wannabes sway down the beach. There is every hair color under the sun. And a few fans, wearing Denver Broncos' orange or Atlanta Falcons' black, gawk. "They bring a lot of money to Miami," Arlay Regueiro, who is selling shades at a ridiculous rate from a Sunglass Hut on the bottom floor of the Starlite Hotel, says of the hundreds of thousands of people who come into town for the game. "So we love it." The NFL claims that Super Bowls bring millions of dollars into the local economy. A study after last year's big one in San Diego claimed that the city and county enjoyed some $295 million off the game. A recent study disputed the huge numbers the NFL boasts about. But on a warm day in South Beach, with the sidewalks crowded and everyone happy, there certainly seems like there's some money to be made. "At night, we're already full," said Babin, who claims he will serve between 200-300 more dinners a day at one of his restaurants, Rendezvous on the Beach, which translates to a rise in profits of between 30 and 40 percent. "To get a table between 8-10 [p.m.] is impossible." It all proves one thing. When it comes to the color of money, everyone sees green.
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