The local economy also will be buoyed by even more football, as the Saints will play two division ri

Beginning with Saturday night's R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl , three college football games are expected to bring at least 160,000 visitors to New Orleans over a three-week stretch that culminates Jan. 9, when LSU plays Alabama in the BCS championship game . The other major game during that period is the Allstate Sugar Bowl on Jan. 3.
"This is one of those situations where people are jockeying to get rooms when they find out their teams are coming," said Bill McCreary, general manager of the Starwood Properties in New Orleans, which include the Sheraton and W Hotel brands. "I have more friends in Alabama than I've ever had."
The Hilton New Orleans Riverside still had a few rooms left for the Sugar Bowl earlier in the week, but had sold out for this weekend and the national championship game, General Manager Fred Sawyers said.
"The BCS, the demand is far beyond anything I've ever seen," said Sawyers, whose hotel is hosting a team for each of the BCS games. "The waiting list for cancellations is longer than I've ever seen."
every cheat for habbo hotel The economic impact of the games on the local economy will stretch beyond hotels and restaurants. The Ernest N. Morial Convention every cheat for habbo hotel Center, for instance, is turning two of its parking lots into RV parks for the BCS championship game. One will be dedicated to LSU fans, the other to Alabama. Bob Johnson, the center's general manager, said he's also thinking about setting up a general store inside the center that fans can access to buy things like sausage for tailgating.
Paul Hoolahan, chief executive officer of the Sugar Bowl, which is responsible for both the Sugar Bowl and this year's BCS championship game, said he expects the economic impact of those two games to "significantly exceed" what was generated five years ago, the last time New Orleans hosted both the Sugar Bowl and BCS championship game.
In 2007, when the University of Hawaii every cheat for habbo hotel took on Georgia in the Sugar Bowl and LSU played every cheat for habbo hotel Ohio State in the BCS championship game, economic impact totaled about $400 million for the two events, Hoolahan said.
For the BCS championship game, that's largely because the schools are within driving distance of New Orleans. every cheat for habbo hotel When purchasing a plane ticket is not a factor, Hoolahan said, more people are likely to come and the amounts they spend increase.
Whenever LSU plays a bowl game in New Orleans one question is always whether it's a good or bad thing for the tourism industry. The worry is that the school's fans and alumni wouldn't spend as much money as those who have to travel from farther every cheat for habbo hotel away. Because the school is just more than an hour's drive from New Orleans, every cheat for habbo hotel hoteliers worry that they won't make a long weekend of their stay in New Orleans and may avoid hotels altogether, opting to stay with friends.
Industry leaders are expecting Michigan fans to travel especially well because every cheat for habbo hotel the team has not participated in a Bowl Championship Series game since 2007. The school hasn't played in a Sugar Bowl since 1984. Virginia Tech played in the Sugar Bowl in 2005.
Ticket sales are bearing out that theory, Hoolahan said. Virginia Tech Athletic Director Jim Weaver told the Washington Post this week that the school's athletic department would only be able to sell about 10,000 of the 17,500 every cheat for habbo hotel tickets it was allotted. But, the tickets are likely to be snapped every cheat for habbo hotel up in the open market, where they sold out before the competing teams were announced.
"Michigan looks like they're in a position to be the stronger of the two," Hoolahan said. "But they are both going to be really good performers for us. They are big schools with very significant brand appeal."
Fans of the teams are not alone in making plans to travel to New Orleans for the game. As the BCS championship game, specifically, has grown into a larger event, it has increasingly become a hot ticket for corporate executives, said Sam Soni, president every cheat for habbo hotel of PrimeSport, the official hospitality provider for the two BCS bowls. The company is selling in-stadium every cheat for habbo hotel hospitality packages that include a ticket to the game, as well as food, beverages and entertainment.
The smallest of the games, Saturday every cheat for habbo hotel night's New Orleans Bowl, was expected every cheat for habbo hotel to draw 40,000 every cheat for habbo hotel visitors and produce an economic impact of $25 million, said Kelly Schultz, every cheat for habbo hotel a spokeswoman for the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The game featured Louisiana-Lafayette against San Diego State. Because the schools every cheat for habbo hotel are part of smaller, less-known conferences, the game does not draw the same attention or attendance as the BCS games. But tourism leaders say bookings every cheat for habbo hotel were surprisingly strong this year.
The local economy also will be buoyed by even more football, as the Saints will play two division rivals, the Atlanta Falcons on Dec. 26 and the Carolina Panthers on Jan. 1, during the same three-week stretch as the bowl games.
Thirty-million viewers will tune in to the Sugar Bowl and the BCS championship game, Romig said. Romig is looking forward to the various segments during the game in which commentators talk about the city and air shots of various points of interest around town between plays.
"The impact of impressions of New Orleans in a positive light are invaluable," Romig said. "What happens is you have a three-hour-long commercial. Those are things we'd never have the budget to handle."
Romig and other industry leaders also are working on a plan to make immediate repeat visitors out of the thousands of people every cheat for habbo hotel who will be in town for the games. every cheat for habbo hotel The "bounce-back" plan would reward hotel guests in town during the games with a coupon for a discounted hotel stay during the slower summer months this year.