Full-service hotel additions in recent years include the293-room Renaissance International Plaza, a few miles away fromRaymond James Stadium, and a 360-unit Embassy Suites hotel inDowntown Tampa. At the same time, several existing hotels have beenreflagged of late, including the 323-room InterContinental Tampa,formerly the Wyndham Westshore.

While there are no hotels in the blocks immediately surroundingthe stadium, proximity of such accommodations has never been anissue with the National Football League, says Steve Hayes,executive VP of Tampa Bay & Co., the area's convention andvisitors' bureau. Buses, taxis and limos are available to ferrypeople to and from the game site and other venues around town whereSuper Bowl-related events are held.

Corporate sponsors and others requiring larger blocks of hotelrooms prefer to stay farther away from the stadium, whether alongthe Pinellas County beaches to the west or Orlando theme parks tothe east, he adds. "We're still having to go to Orlando to getrooms, but don't need as many as we used to," Hayes says.