Super Bowl maintains a heavy presence at WM Phoenix Open

Fans have always been a colorful sight at TPC Scottsdale for the WM Phoenix Open, but this year’s overlap with the Super Bowl at State Farm Stadium adds more green, white, red and yellow to the mix.

Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles jerseys popping up on the grounds is a reminder of the big game, but the Open has been affected in other ways.

Wednesday’s pro-am field brought in NFL players past and present; the tournament had to turn down other requests for this busy week. Then the unthinkable happened when Friday and Saturday officially sold out for the first time in tournament history.

With fans coming in from colder climates, the outdoor tournament known to be a massive party was attractive.

“It’s beautiful weather because it’s snowing back home, so this is perfect weather,” Chiefs fan Victoria Gerken said. “Better than Disney World.”

Gerken traveled with her husband, Scott, and two other friends from Kansas City to Phoenix on Thursday. Their jam-packed trip will conclude with Sunday’s big game. Three of the four in the group were at the Open for the first time.

“We didn’t know what to expect, but we’ve heard a lot about this and really what it was like,” Daniel Derakhshananian said. “It’s an insane amount of people and it’s a lot of fun.”

Since Scott’s last trip to the Open, he noticed a difference in the amount of people with the Super Bowl in town at the same time.

“It’s lot more of a madhouse,” Scott said. “It’s a lot more fun for us because we know we got the Super Bowl the next day and it’s a lot to take in for one weekend.”

Eagles fans Alison and Gerry Frey have yet to secure tickets to the game, but for now are enjoying being in the same area as their team and enjoying the atmosphere at the Open.

“He was trying to pretend this was my birthday gift going to see the Eagles. Then he said, oh, let’s go to the Open too,” Alison said.

So far, the two have bonded with Eagles fans throughout the course and are getting ready for all the possible outcomes for Sunday. As of right now, everyone is remaining even-keeled.

“It might be a little different when the Eagles fans really get here and get fired up,” Alison said. “Especially if they win, but even if they lose, you’re really going to get the same fan.”

While Eagles and Chiefs fans don't agree on a winner for Sunday, they can both agree this week will certainly leave a dent in everyone's wallets.

“It’s great that it’s all here, but at the same time, everything we’ve touched from our hotel rooms to our Uber to our flights to our rental cars, everything is doubled," Scott Gerken said. "We could’ve probably done two separate trips for the same amount of money. That’s the only bad part about it. But we’re having a fun four days and we hope we come out with a win.”

For the golfers, Sunday will likely pale in comparison to Saturday in terms of crowd sizes. Unlike Saturday, tickets for Sunday are still available.

“To have two of these huge events in the same city on the same weekend, it's going to be really interesting,” Rory McIlroy said. “I feel like Saturday here is going to be a huge day in terms of the numbers and everything, and it'll be interesting to see what Sunday is like with people obviously wanting to get to the Super Bowl.”

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Super Bowl's presence seen everywhere at WM Phoenix Open