The football carnival that has taken over 14 blocks of Broadway around Times Square may be fun for Super Bowl crowds, but those who work in the surrounding buildings are growing weary.
That so-called fan zone â€" stretching from 47th to 34th Streets â€" houses office buildings for some of high finance’s most prominent names, including Barclays and Morgan Stanley. Ernst & Young’s offices sit smack at the heart of the festivities, at 42nd and Seventh Avenue. And other big office buildings, including the Bank of America Tower on Sixth Avenue between 42nd and 43rd Streets, are about a block away from Broadway.
Millions of dollars of deals, foreign-exchange trading and other transactions are flowing in conference rooms while visitors on the streets take in a toboggan, a horse decked out in Denver Broncos garb and dancing blue robots.
“Most people here are more annoyed by more people here than excited,†said one junior banker at a big investment bank, whose building looms above Times Square, whose company, like many other financial firms, have rules discouraging employees from speaking to reporters. “People in my group have been avoiding Times Square.â€
By the time he leaves work, usually around 11 p.m., it is too cold to enjoy any of the events, he added.
The bankers may not be the only ones inconvenienced by the festivities. Prostitutes are being arrested. Flower shops lament the traffic jams. And New Yorkers are taking to Twitter to complain.
Employees of the financial and consulting firms who work in the area are accustomed to a certain level of inconvenience in Times Square, like zigzagging around costumed characters to get their morning coffee and trying to find the rarely available taxi when they leave work late at night.
Turning Broadway into a traffic-free pregame celebration has only introduced a different obstacle course. Now, instead of Elmos to navigate, there are people milling about in football jerseys. Instead of a naked cowboy, there is the Vince Lombardi trophy.
“Times Square is always insane, so it kind of just washes by us,†said Natan Last, an associate consultant at Bain and Company. Bain’s office is in the Thomson Reuters Building at Three Times Square, on Seventh Avenue between 42nd and 43rd Streets.
Despite the cold, Mr. Last, who has created crossword puzzles for The New York Times, said he and a group of colleagues were planning to test out the toboggan run, between 40th and 41st Streets, if they could get away from their desks to purchase tickets.
As the weekend approaches, some bankers are optimistic they may be able to get out of the office early enough to see what all of the fuss is about. The junior investment banker said he has heard people talking about getting together after work to check out the scene. But he said if he had the time, he would probably avoid the Super Bowl scene. “I would probably just go to a local bar,†he said.
