NEW ORLEANS — There are massive corporate logos beamed in light on the side of downtown skyscrapers. Banners flap in the wind above makeshift stages and outdoor party areas. Music blares around a corner of packed French Quarter bars.
Taylor Swift is coming. So, too, is Donald Trump.
This city — famed for its rowdy street parties and vociferous colored costumes — is ready for the Super Bowl. Until then, however, seemingly everyone, from Fortune 500 sponsors to back alley gumbo joints, is vying for attention.
Yet amidst it all, sits an unexpected, if understandable, must-see attraction that floated into town a week ago, turning the heads of locals and football tourists alike. In a city teeming with ostentatious displays of wealth and power and celebrity, with everyone and everything begging for eyeballs this weekend, it overwhelms all else.
It’s the Kismet, a massive, six-deck superyacht docked along the Mississippi river bank. It belongs to billionaire businessman and Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan and stretches 400 feet — longer than the field Kansas City and Philadelphia will play on Sunday.
Khan purchased it last year for a reported $360 million and apparently decided to show it off to the world here at the Super Bowl.
It’s certainly getting attention. Since its arrival in late January right next to Woldenberg Park near the French Quarter, crowds have gathered around it to gawk, pose for selfies and try to peer into its various rooms. How about that opulent chandelier? Is the sprawling table for business meetings or formal dinners?
“How many people can fit in there?” asked one woman from the Riverwalk on Friday morning.
“I don’t know, but I could get comfortable on it,” joked her friend.
According to Jacksonville.com, the boat has nine guest cabins and features a crew of 36, plus a captain.
The Kismet is the size of a small hotel. It has three separate swimming pools, four fireplaces, two outdoor fire pits, a gym and both a basketball and pickleball court, according to Jacksonville.com. There is also a spa with a Turkish bath, a sauna and a cryotherapy chamber. A helipad sits on top.
For additional entertainment, it features an outdoor cinema, a dance floor with a DJ station, four different bars and an underwater viewing room.
The boat is built to be noticed and Khan certainly isn’t hiding it with its docking location. The reaction to it is somewhat mixed — some see it as fun and awe-inspiring, others as ridiculous and unnecessary. For much of the week it sat next to a working crane boat. A small homeless encampment is a few short steps away.
It’s been an excuse to crack jokes that this is as close as Khan and the Jaguars will get to the Super Bowl. (The team has never made the NFL title game and went just 4-13 this season.)
Khan was born in Pakistan and came to the United States at age 16 to study at the University of Illinois. He later worked as an engineer before buying the company Flex-N-Gate, which among other things supplies car and truck bumpers to major automotive manufacturers. The 74-year old's net worth is an estimated $13.3 billion.
He’s been buying bigger and bigger boats for years.
Khan is hardly alone among NFL owners in having a superyacht. Atlanta’s Arthur Blank owns a 295-footer and Dallas’ Jerry Jones has a $250 million, 357-foot long boat, among others.
It’s the Kismet, though, that has been hanging around the Super Bowl, drawing people away from all the usual attractions — from the traditional ones of New Orleans itself to the constructed temporary facilities of the Super Bowl.
There is nothing like a massive boat, it turns out. Even here and now.
