There's the Super Bowl and, 45 Miles North, Super Bowl City

With all the events and hype along San Francisco's waterfront, you'd think that's where the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers will be playing Super Bowl 50 on Feb. 7, instead of at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, 45 miles to the south.

A walk around lower Market Street and Justin Herman Plaza, on the other side of the Embarcadero, is loud, with drills, hammers, trucks and forklifts busy moving the pieces of Super Bowl City into place in time for the start of festivities on Saturday. People mill about, taking photos with their smartphones, gawking at the rising spectacle.

Super Bowl City is a free NFL fan village designed for people to come and have a Super Bowl experience a week before -- and during -- the big game. Several blocks away, the Moscone Center will host the NFL Experience, a paid event. Over the week, officials expect more than 1 million people to come together to eat, play interactive games and enjoy live music, including acts like Alicia Keys, Chris Isaak, OneRepublic and Matt Nathanson.

Mark Purdy, sports columnist for the San Jose Mercury News and Bay Area News Group, says the contrast between the glitz of Super Bowl City and the business of the game in Santa Clara is a reflection of today's Bay Area.

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“My observation is that it kind of mirrors everyday Bay Area life. The people who want to party and look at themselves in the mirror are in San Francisco. The real business of the game is taking place in the valley and in San Jose. Both teams are staying there; they’re flying into there, and they’re practicing there. So, it’s quite possible none of the coaches or players will set foot in San Francisco all week."

Purdy has covered 32 Super Bowls and remembers the last time the game came to the Bay Area -- Stanford Stadium in 1985. He says Palo Alto didn’t really want to gear up for the event. People stayed in San Francisco then, too.

“That was the first year the NFL decided to do a corporate hospitality village around the stadium," Purdy said. "The reason was that they knew most people were staying in San Francisco (and) would have to get there really early because of the traffic, and they needed some place for them to go. So, they got companies to set up these hospitality tents. Well, now, if you drive by Levi’s Stadium, the area around it is basically full of these big tents and corporate things where there are going to be 'tailgate parties' before the game."

The drama of the event fascinates him, Purdy says, especially the age spread between quarterbacks.

“Peyton Manning played his first NFL game two days after Google was founded. He turns 40 in March. Meanwhile, Cam Newton was like in third grade. He’s 26 years old. So, you’ve got this great dichotomy of the rising Elon Musk-rocket of the NFL, Cam Newton, as the quarterback, very exciting player with both his feet and his arms, versus this old guy, Peyton Manning.

"I think 99 percent of people believe he is going to be playing his last football game at Levi’s Stadium on Feb. 7. So, that’s a historic event in the football world."