Super Bowl gave Tampa image a boost, poll finds

Great weather and glowing comments about Tampa by sportscaster Al Michaels boosted the city's image among those who watched Super Bowl XLIII, according to a poll released Friday.

Competitive Edge Research and Communication in San Diego surveyed 500 people in the days before and after the Feb. 1 game.

"The net effect there was a 6 percent increase in people who had positive impressions in Tampa, and a 2 percent decrease in folks who had negative impressions of Tampa," said John Nienstedt, the company's president. "What we found is 13 times, Al Michaels referenced Tampa and three of those were very glowing, very positive, referring to beautiful downtown Tampa and the gorgeous waterfront."

NBC reported that an estimated 98.7 million viewers watched Super Bowl XLIII and 151.6 million people watched all or some of the event, making it the most watched Super Bowl ever.

In contrast to Tampa, people watching the 2007 Super Bowl in Miami developed negative impressions of the city, Nien­stedt said. "They expect Miami to be sunny, and here it was pouring down rain on a Super Bowl. So the image of Miami was actually harmed by the Super Bowl," he said.

Houston and Jacksonville made less of an impression when games were played there in 2004 and 2005 because the cities weren't mentioned much in the television broadcast.

"It comes down to how much the announcers are able to work in references to the city and how positive those references are," Nienstedt said.

Information from Times wires was used in this report.