New Orleans Welcomes More Than 100,000 Visitors for Super Bowl

New Orleans is the kind of town where you could drop a piece of paper and people would celebrate.

The Big Game on Sunday is no different.

Thongs of tourists are descending on the woodlands for the Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles. Caesars Superdome holds 83,000 people; city officials are expecting a minimum of 125,000 to visit.

Add to the mix is a city that is still recovering from an early morning terrorist attack on January 1 prior to the Orange Bowl. In addition, President Trump might make an appearance.

That’s a lot even for New Orleans.

Hotel demand is not only up more than 600 percent, but the average nightly room rate is $650. State police, city police and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security all have a heavy presence.

At an NFL briefing, law enforcement said more than 700 different types of Homeland Security officials will be on the ground during the Super Bowl, and that was before President Donald Trump indicated plans to attend the game.

“I am confident that the safest areas to be in the country this weekend is under the security umbrella our team has put together,” said Cathy Lanier, the NFL’s chief security officer. “We added resources, and we feel really good about where we are.” 

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