Thousands flood Super Bowl fan fest. Here's what S.F.'s massive party is like

The opening day price for the Super Bowl Experience at Moscone Center was $40, but kids under 12 got in free. That deal proved too good to pass up for Lily Moody, 9, and her sister Leilah Moody, 6, who skipped school at Sinclair Elementary in Modesto to attend the main public event of Super Bowl week. They had a note excusing them from their dad, Justin Moody. He was standing there too, having skipped work as an insurance agent.

"I wanted them to have the experience of coming to a Super Bowl event just to see what it's all about," said Justin, who marked this educational experience by wearing his No. 21 Frank Gore 49ers jersey while Lily wore No. 19 and Leilah 85.

The Super Bowl Experience runs through Saturday as an NFL trade show, publicity stunt, punt-pass-kick competition and hoped-for player autograph session. Adult ticket prices go up by $10 per day as the week goes on. There was enough school truancy in the long line waiting for the doors to open at 3 p.m. Tuesday that you'd think it was opening day of baseball season, and the weather was like that, too.

"Every now and then you've got to do something for fun," said Daniel Gunther, 43, who came up from Stockton with his sons Connor, 12, and Liam, 10. "I've got a note from work that says I'm sick, so it's all right."  

Dylan Sanchez, 10, skipped music and PE class at John Swett Elementary in Walnut Creek and wore his Raiders Bo Jackson jersey, in hopes that Jackson would appear to sign it. His mother, Katie, also skipped school, as a fifth grade teacher at Valle Verde Elementary in Walnut Creek.

She was more pragmatic, though. She brought a clear plastic bag containing a clear plastic box containing the football card of every player in the Pro Bowl, a flag football event later in the day. The cards were in alphabetical order in case she had to act quickly to get one signed - for her son, of course. Since he is 10, he missed the events surrounding the last Bay Area Super Bowl, the 50th, so she wanted to make sure he did not miss the 60th.

"It's a cultural phenomenon, good for his mental health," said Sanchez.

After fans passed through a security tent, they were greeted by oversized polished replicas of all 32 NFL helmets, each on a stand. The AFC was on one side and the NFC on the other, with fans in Raiders black and 49ers gold meeting in the middle to hoot at each other, as if they were playing Sunday.

"You always have to support your home team, no matter what," said Gunther. This loyalty carried right into the lobby of Moscone Center. 

There was no social distancing at Tuesday's event. People pressed together in herd mentality whenever and wherever there was rumored to be an NFL player, any player. On a stage a barker lathered the crowd into a froth while introducing a 49ers Super Bowl hero, who was sure to be either Joe Montana or Jerry Rice, given the buildup, but turned out to be Hall of Fame pass rusher Charles Haley.

"I wish there were more players," said Jordan Martinez, who flew in from Phoenix for the week, and looked lonely in a royal blue Indianapolis Colts jersey and hat. The only jersey that had even lower fan representation was the olive green of the New York Jets, worn by Brad Edwareds of Tracy. His dad had been a Joe Namath fan and it was ever thus.

"I was born into this," he said of his team, which finished with a 3-14 record. "It's brutal being a Jets fan in Niners country."

Brutal being a Seattle Seahawks fan, too. They were vastly outnumbered by 49ers fans at the Super Bowl Experience. "We're not offended," said Dave D. of Windsor, who wore a Seahawks jersey. "We beat them 40-6."

This was his second time to the Super Bowl Experience, having come when San Francisco last hosted. He walked away from that event with two game tickets he won in a raffle. So he came down Tuesday with three generations of family members, all in Seahawks jerseys. They fanned out, entering any ticket raffle they could find.

"I can't afford $9,000 per ticket," he said of the going rate. "But I'm hoping to win them."    

Games like flag football for kids, kicking competitions and the traditional 40-yard dash test of speed take place throughout Moscone all week. Standing around watching a group of kids in a field goal competition, which they described as "kicking the ball over a bar," were a group of teachers and students from St. Marnocks National School in Dublin, Ireland. They'd won the Irish championship in flag football and came over for an international playoff in the under-13 division, which they lost to the eventual champion from Japan. They stood in their green jerseys at the bottom of the escalator and felt the sea of people flowing around them in a continuous incoming tide.

"Brilliant, unreal," said 4th grade teacher Michelle Dillon. "I've never seen anything like this before."

This article originally published at Thousands flood Super Bowl fan fest. Here's what S.F.'s massive party is like.