SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Ryan Liebentritt’s phone has a contacts list that a Hollywood booking agent — or frankly, a jealous sports columnist — would love to replicate.
He’d like to name-drop, because it is Super Bowl week, and name-dropping might as well be its own sport in the Valley of the Sun with the Super Bowl less than a week away. But he can’t.
“You pay your money, you get your privacy,” said Liebentritt, who along with his brother Drew owns holidayrental.com, Arizona’s largest luxury rentals experience provider.
Before the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles do their thing on Sunday, the Phoenix area will be flooded with celebrities from the world of entertainment, and they’ve all got to stay somewhere.
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Halftime show headliner Rihanna, Drake, Cardi B, Snoop Dogg and Machine Gun Kelly are all due to perform. Arizona will also host dozens of NFL superstars past and present like Rob Gronkowski, and countless luminaries from other sports such as Shaquille O’Neal.
If some of the celebs mentioned above are on Liebentritt’s list, he’s not saying, though a coy smile when pressed suggests the odds are good, and his clients also range from some of the wealthiest people on earth to Hollywood actors and titans of business.
The price tag for the most exclusive properties offered by his company? What’s a mere $250,000 per week between friends?
When Katy Perry performed at the Super Bowl in Glendale eight years ago, she stayed in a holidayrental.com mountainside villa in that price range.
Liebentritt houses the glitterati across a dazzling array of spectacular homes, many situated in an ultra-exclusive enclave nestled up against Camelback Mountain, which peeks down on Scottsdale and has views all the way into downtown Phoenix. Spectacular might not do these places justice. Each gated compound has a laundry list of jaw-dropping features.
On Monday, I toured On The Rocks, a majestic modern palace literally built into Camelback’s rockface. It wasn’t a bad way to start the Super Bowl festivities, getting a glimpse of how the other half — or the other 0.00001 percent — lives.
The market for such places is booming year-round, but the Super Bowl supercharges everything. This coming week, the Liebentritts have nine houses leasing for $100,000 or above.
“This area has become known as a place for the ultimate Super Bowl experience,” Liebentritt said, while pointing out that the simultaneous WM Phoenix Open golf tournament only increased the demand this year. “The range of remarkable properties here, combined with the weather … we have all this space. The natural features nearby gives the opportunity for unique, special homes with the utmost of privacy.”
Those with the money to spend can expect premium service, with personal chefs, nannies, butlers, massage therapists and much more all just a phone call — and an extra swipe of the credit card — away.
Another nearby property, Camelback Mountain Estate, is like a miniature country club, boasting floodlit tennis and pickleball, ping pong, a putting green and a glorious movie theater, which makes you wonder how guests find enough hours in the day to enjoy everything.
The reality is that some cities are just better suited to the Super Bowl than others. There is a reason why warm-weather locales such as Arizona, Miami and New Orleans have been part of the roster, time and again, and Las Vegas — beginning next year — may soon find itself as a frequent part of the mix.
The Phoenix area is spread out, and the week leading up to game time sees events dotted all over the valley, but with many centered on the upscale locale of Scottsdale. Those lavish properties are 20 miles from State Farm Stadium, but even as things get busy towards the end of the week the drive won’t take much more than 30 minutes.
Such a time span might get you no further than a few miles in Los Angeles or New York, which hosted its one and only Super Bowl in early 2014.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has long been a fan of Arizona as a Super Bowl destination, with this being the fourth time the region has hosted.
“It’s the world’s greatest platform, and that opportunity to shine the light on Arizona, and what makes it special,” Goodell said recently.
Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and the author of the FOX Sports Insider newsletter. Follow him on Twitter @MRogersFOX and subscribe to the daily newsletter.
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