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It’s no secret that San Francisco has been plagued by homelessness and crime in recent years, but that was hard to imagine during Super Bowl week, according to Pat McAfee.
Granted, the big game was about an hour southeast of Santa Clara, but the Super Bowl fan experience and media spat took place right in town, at the Moscone Center, and McAfee was impressed by his surroundings.
“I would like to reiterate the fact that San Francisco has been good to us. It’s a nice city. We’ve traveled miles and miles here,” McAfee said on his show Monday, adding that the city was “good to us.”
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Pat McAfee on The Pat McAfee Show taking place at the Super Bowl LX Media Center at the Moscone Center. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
McAfee admitted to hearing reviews talk about its rather high-end amenities, from five-star hotels to private security to “behind the scenes at a convention center,” which could automatically lead to a positive perception.
“I understand that this could be my life, and it sounds pretty sick, actually. But…we walked on this shit,” McAfee said. “We were all over that place.”
“It’s true, it was just our area. I guess there are some shitty areas. I mean, it’s a city. I think that kind of thing happens in most cities. But the part we were in was very nice,” he continued.
McAfee admitted that he actually expected San Francisco to be a “shithole,” as he had heard it used to be a “dump.”
“I actually planned to start the show… ‘I can’t wait until I have to tell the truth about San Francisco if it’s not great,'” McAfee added.
49ers stars Christian McCaffrey, Brock Purdy and Fred Warner spoke highly of the city to PK Press Club Digital during media week.
“It’s a historic town with so much character. The food, the hills, the houses, the water, the bridge, all that. It’s such a great town too, and it’s really cool to see it come to life even more than it already is,” McCaffrey said.
NFL fans walk past the Super Bowl Experience at the Moscone Center on February 6, 2026 in San Francisco, California. (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
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“Man, I think San Francisco has so much to offer,” quarterback Purdy added. “Obviously with the restaurants, the experiences, how pretty it is here with the Golden Gate Bridge and the ocean. It’s a great city, great people. So to have the Super Bowl here is really cool.”
Warner welcomed the fact that the city is a “melting pot.”
“All the different cultures mix, all the diversity and mix,” Warner said. “You can get a little bit of everything you’re looking for here, and of course, playing in the biggest stadium in the entire NFL, Levi’s Stadium, you can’t beat it, and so I think it’s going to be a great Super Bowl Sunday and a great week as well with all the different activities planned for everyone.”
In 2023, Buster Posey, the Giants’ president of baseball operations and a former hometown catcher, said players and their wives had a negative perception of San Francisco.
“Something that I think is remarkable, something that unfortunately keeps coming up with players and even players’ wives, is that there’s a little bit of discomfort with the city itself, in terms of the state of the city, with the crime, with the drugs,” Posey told The Athletic in 2023, adding that it affected their pursuit of Shohei Ohtani.
“Whether or not all of this is completely fair, perception is reality. It’s a frustrating cycle, I think, and not just with baseball. Baseball is secondary to life and the important things in life. But as far as the free agent pursuit, I’ve seen it affect things.”
Fans visit the Moscone Center for the Super Bowl experience and fun activities in San Francisco, California, United States on February 3, 2026. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)
San Francisco’s estimated population is approximately 827,000, making it the 13th most populous city in the United States. However, it is estimated that more than 8,000 people are homeless in the city.
