Score one for economy

When they’ve not been practicing at municipal sports fields in Costa Mesa for the 2010 Bowl Championship Series title game, players from the No. 1-ranked University of Alabama football team have sneaked out to local beaches and munched on In-N-Out Burgers, team officials said Tuesday.

Thousands of sports journalists, college football fans and the University of Alabama team and support staff are staying in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa this week, gearing up for Thursday’s national championship game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

The Crimson Tide’s adversary in the game, the No. 2-ranked University of Texas Longhorns, has been staying in Irvine and practicing at UC Irvine.

Money that the BCS entourage is spending at local hotels and restaurants will give the economy a much-needed post-Christmas boost, said Gary Sherwin, president of the Newport Beach Conference and Visitor’s bureau.

“It is a phenomenal shot in the arm,” Sherwin said. “January is one of the toughest months for hotel occupancy ... To have people who are going to be coming to town who want to go out, enjoy themselves and spend money is wonderful for business.”

The Alabama football team and its massive support staff has descended on the Westin South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, booking 365 of the hotel’s 392 rooms. About 550 people are traveling with the team this week, said Bill McDonald, director of sports medicine for Alabama, who also acts as the team’s travel coordinator.

The Crimson Tide flew into John Wayne Airport on two chartered airplanes Saturday, and another plane filled with Alabama staff was expected to touch down at JWA Tuesday, McDonald said.

The Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort hosted the Alabama and Texas teams Sunday and Monday night for the Lawry’s Beef Bowl, a more-than-50-year-old Rose Bowl tradition in which players are feted with large quantities of Lawry’s prime rib.

“It’s been great,” McDonald said, noting that he and the team have enjoyed Newport-Mesa’s warm weather and hospitality. “It almost seems like a Super Bowl the way they’ve handled things. Everyone has really been outstanding.”

The Alabama team has been practicing on Costa Mesa’s municipal soccer fields on Fairview Road, and has even gone as far as putting up new, opaque green fencing around the complex to ensure privacy.

The team paid about $2,100 a day to rent the sports complex, generating so much revenue for Costa Mesa, that the city will use the money to renovate the fields there, Costa Mesa Assistant City Manager Tom Hatch said.

“It’s kind of prestigious to have the Heisman Trophy winner practicing on your fields, and it’s been a good thing for the local economy,” Hatch said.

Local officials hope the BCS will be back again when the rotating title game returns to the Rose Bowl.

The Newport Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau paid for new video monitors to be installed near the baggage claim area at JWA that display a welcome message to sports media, teams and alumni groups.

“We’re really trying to let them know how much we’re appreciating them,” Sherwin said.

While football teams that played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena used to stay in Newport Beach on occasion in the 1990s, this is the first time the city has officially hosted news media and alumni groups traveling with the teams, Sherwin said.

Mitch Dorger, chief executive for the Tournament of Roses, said the Rose Bowl might consider striking up a permanent deal with Newport Beach to host media outlets and alumni groups for future games.

“We will look at it and talk with the teams and make a full critique,” Dorger said. “I don’t see anything that would stand in the way to try to repeat the same sort of setup, but that’s to be determined in the future.”

Alumni groups from the University of Texas and University of Alabama are staying at the Island Hotel and Fairmont Newport Beach hotel this week, Sherwin said.

Hundreds of journalists and television news crews have nearly filled the 512-room Newport Beach Marriott Hotel and Spa in Newport Center, constructing TV sets and filming from the rooftop of the hotel.

“We have been getting national coverage just by nature of the fact the media is here and doing their reporting from Newport Beach, which is a wonderful secondary benefit for the city,” Sherwin said.