LOS ANGELES (AP), The Super Bowl is returning to Los Angeles after a nearly 30-year absence has already been a major victory for small-business owners such as Kyndra McCrary.
Her catering company was hired to cater for the Super Bowl performers and an NFL business networking event.
McCrary says the jobs are a financial boost. Her business is still trying to get back to pre-pandemic levels. McCrary hopes that, beyond this weekend's work, the Super Bowl will lead to better and bigger jobs.
McCrary, 40, said that McCrary believes there will be a lasting effect because people will try our food and will remember us.
The Super Bowl can bring millions to a community, and it is a benefit for all businesses that are not involved in the staging of the event.
According to an analysis by the Los Angeles Sports & Entertainment Commission, Sunday's match will bring in between $234 million-$477 million for the region. According to Micronomics, an economic research firm and consulting firm, this includes between 2,200 and 4,700 new jobs and tax revenue of up to $22million.
Most of the new jobs projected will be in the event production and hospitality sector -- which are the most affected areas of the local economy. The analysis revealed that more than half of the jobs are expected to be in transportation, hotels, and restaurants.
Shannon Sedgwick (director of research, nonprofit Los Angeles County Economic Development) stated that "a lot of the recovery that has yet to occur is still in the service and tourism-related sectors." "Having an event such as the Super Bowl in the region and bringing people back with their visitor spending will only have positive economic benefits for the region," said Shannon Sedgwick, director of research at the nonprofit Los Angeles County Economic Development.
Los Angeles County, which is home to approximately 10 million people lost nearly 773,000 jobs between March 2020 and April 2020 during the first weeks of the pandemic. Pre-pandemic, the region's unemployment rate rose from 4.5% to 18.8% in May 2020.
As pandemic lockdowns eased, hiring has increased in recent months. The county's unemployment rate was 6.2% as of December 2021.
Sedgwick stated, "We are moving closer to what was," but that we are not there yet.
L.A. has hosted the Super Bowl seven consecutive times. The first Super Bowl was in 1967 between the Green Bay Packers (Kansas City Chiefs) and the Green Bay Packers (Green Bay Packers). The Rose Bowl in Pasadena has hosted most of the Super Bowl games, including the 52-17 win by the Dallas Cowboys over the Buffalo Bills in 1993's Super Bowl XXVII. The game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals will be played in SoFi Stadium. It opened in Inglewood in September 2020.
In the decades that have passed since the Super Bowl, a lot of L.A.'s economy has changed. The area has shifted gradually from a manufacturing-oriented economy to one geared toward providing services, including those that cater to tourism.
Sedgwick stated that 89% of L.A. County’s economy is made up of service industries. These include financial services, health care, retail, transportation, and other financial activities. Around 11% of this is leisure and hospitality which includes bars and restaurants.
McCrary witnessed jobs as a caterer on television and film sets disappear in the first days of the pandemic. McCrary saw jobs catering for weddings and other large events disappear along with the need for companies to provide meals at their once packed corporate offices.
McCrary stated, "Once the pandemic began, (business) didn’t just slow down; it became nonexistent." "Every single event was cancelled."
Things started to pick up gradually over time. Her business is now about 40% higher than normal in terms of both revenue and employment.
Now she has five employees, which is about half the number of people she had before the pandemic. During her game-day gig, she will have 14 people to assist her in providing food for all the "talents" at an NFL tailgate party.
McCrary was connected to the NFL through a program called Business Connect. The program invites certified minority, women, veteran, lesbians, gay, bisexual, or transgender-owned companies to apply to be hired for the various events.
This year, more than 225 businesses participated, 26 of which were in Inglewood. The program offers 18 months' worth of professional development workshops that prepare business owners for Super Bowl job applications, such as catering, security, lighting, and security.
B.J. explained that the program attempts to limit the number of participating businesses so that most of them have a good shot at getting a contract. Waymer is an NFL consultant.
Allan DallaTorre's design and production company was one of the local companies that took part in the program.
The 44-year-old's business was active before the pandemic and regularly hosted small movie premieres, fundraisers, and other events. Much of this was lost after the pandemic and has only recently been rediscovered.
He provided lighting at a Business Connect networking event last week and is waiting to hear back from him about the possibility of working on two Super Bowl parties.
DallaTorre stated, "Just through the networking I've had other vendors, we were able to network with each other businesses." "Every little helps us."
