Here are a few tids and bits to ponder as we reach Presidents Day, which believe it or not to us is the first sign of light at the end of the long, dark winter tunnel. Memorial Day will be here in a flash, you’ll see:

First, speaking of being here in a flash, you’ll be surprised how quickly June-July of 2026 will be here. That’s the time of the FIFA World Cup and soccer enthusiasts in the area and region were celebrating when it was recently announced Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. would host seven games, including a quarterfinal.

“It’s huge,” Nashua High School North boys coach and International Soccer Club of Nashua Eagles general manager Jeremy Zelanes said. “When I was in Orlando in 1994 during the World Cup, the economic impact for just a few games is out of control. … It’s just a fun environment between the bars and the restaurants, everybody gets a little piece of the action. It’s a great injection financially.”

The Boston area is so spread out, but Zelanes still feels the economic boost will be felt here in southern New Hampshire as well.

“The region is going to see it,” Zelanes said. “My understanding is any of the host cities are going to get anywhere between 90 (million) to half a billion dollars in economic impact. You have to figure that’s going to trickle all the way up to New Hampshire. Hotels, (Air) Bnb’s, Vrbo’s, they’re all going to be benefiting big time.”

And it just won’t be in that time frame.

“There’s going to be build up, too,” Zelanes said. “There’s going to be ‘friendly’ matches (exhibitions) that lead up to it, qualifying that leads up to it. You see it in the presidential race, it seems like the (candidates) have been running for the last four years.”

And Zelanes has one more point: In 1994, there was no social media.

“Think about the reach,” he said. “It is the region, but when you tie the social media to it, businesses in the area are leveraging the social media to help promote themselves and attract the outside fans. … Coming out of COVID this is going to be the financial injection to the region that we need.”

Meanwhile, as was announced 10 days or so ago and reported on nashuatelegraph.com, Zelanes was able to put together a deal to have the New England Revolution’s minor league team, Revolution II, play eight games at Southern New Hampshire University starting in late April and continuing through the early fall. And don’t forget the ISC Eagles at Rivier this spring. Soccer fever. Catch it.

—- OK, enough is enough. The Super Bowl has grown into a basic drop-everything event, almost worldwide. The NBA and NHL do not schedule prime time games for Super Bowl Sunday, nor do most if not all colleges for athletc events. Anything is usually during they.

Time for the NHIAA indoor track world to do the same. We know they are at the mercy of the college facilities they use. Last weekend’s event was held at Plymouth State University, and by the time the Division I meet was done, the Super Bowl was nearing its conclusion. Enough. Remember, the NFL moved the Super Bowl to the second Sunday in February after adding an 17th regular season game. For some reason, indoor track did the same.

No more. Where there is a will there’s a way. Is there a will? Probably not, but if not, there should be. Again, we know the colleges rule. But there certainly has to be wiggle room – including moving back to the first Sunday in February. Next year’s Super Bowl is Feb. 9, and this event for the 2024-25 season should be Feb. 2. Enough already.

—- A couple of post Super Bowl thoughts. One, enough throwing Niners coach Kyle Shanahan under the bus for taking the ball first in overtime. How about the SF defense making a stop, which neither defense managed to do on the combined last five possessions?

One moronic sports talk show host out of New York went so far as to criticize Shanahan for kicking the field goal in OT instead of going for it on fourth down in the hopes of extending the drive for a TD. Really? And if they lost that gamble, enable the Chiefs with the best placekicker in the league Harrison Butker to easily win? Yeah, right.

The pressure in OT was on the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes after the Niners scored. And, as is usually the case, they came through. Simple as that. Let’s not get carried away here.

By the way, the odds for the New England Patriots to win the Super Bowl next year are 100 to 1. Who would have ever thought that? But we are in a different world now.

—- Sad to see the recent passing of local businessman George Katis, who was a huge sports/baseball fan and had plenty of connections with the Red Sox past and present. Katis did fundraising work with professional franchises across the country as the Ted Williams Foundation executive board member and gaming manager. As he once said, “I’m the Ted Williams guy.” He befriended Williams decades ago, and Katis helped teams/franchises raise funds for their charities.

“I’m using this to help other charities, and I use my connections because I’m the Ted Williams guy,” Katis told yours truly a few years ago. “How big is that?”

It was pretty big, and so was Katis, a former Nashua Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year. Always a great interview with plenty of stories to tell. He will be missed.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on twitter @Telegraph _TomK.

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