Before the pandemic, according to Ben Roschke, vice president of research and strategic development for Visit San Jose, the California city was probably the most lucrative business transient market in the country. Now, he said, San Jose is seeking to take center stage on the corporate and meetings front through a series of major events and its status as a center for AI and other Silicon Valley startups.

San Jose, said Roschke, “has great bones for events.” The city’s airport is just five miles from downtown. The airport, he said, was the first to offer curbside Waymo autonomous taxi service. And downtown itself, said Roschke, “is like a compact campus where a group can be a big fish in a small pond.” The convention center can handle conferences of up to 15,000.

Uniquely, said Matthew Martinucci, vice president of sales and destination services for Visit San Jose, the visitors bureau manages four theaters. They are usually used for concerts and Broadway shows, but are available for groups as alternative venues.

On the innovation front, Martinucci said the city generates more patents than anywhere else in the country and is home to the first patent office outside of Washington DC. (It opened in 2018.) There are more than 2,500 AI startups in Silicon Valley, he said, and San Jose is home to Nvidia, which, because of its AI chips, is now the most valuable company in the world.

In 2026, San Jose will aim to capitalize on:

• Super Bowl LX, to be held in Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, an easy drive or light rail ride away. For Super Bowl Media Day, San Jose itself will host 2,000 press from around the world.
• 6 FIFA World Cup matches, including one knockout game, to be held at Levi’s Stadium.
• Two March Madness Sweet 16 basketball games and one Elite 8 game, to be held at the SAP Center in downtown San Jose.

San Jose will be home to outdoor concerts and drone shows on the days surrounding the Super Bowl and FIFA games. There will also be over 100 “watch parties” at venues all over town to provide, say officials, “a great fan experience.” Tickets to the games are more and more expensive, according to Tommy O’ Hare, Visit San Jose’s sports and special events director, and the watch parties, he said, “allow local people to enjoy the excitement of these amazing events.” He also said there is a lot of corporate interest in sponsorships for these occasions.

The city, said Martinucci, is home to all the major hotel brands — including Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt and Westin as well as a Signia by Hilton, with 55,000 square feet of event space.