5 Local Businesses Getting a Super Bowl Bounce

2. Park Whiz
Chicago
Park Whiz is a Web site that helps consumers find and reserve parking spots in safe and reputable locations throughout 100 major cities and more than 600 venues. Founded by Aashish Dalal and Jon Thornton in 2006, the Chicago-based company is working with more than 40 parking lots and facilities around the Super Bowl site.

Indianapolis is "a driving city ... Lucas Oil Stadium is situated in a location where there is no accessible public transportation, and so whether it's locals who live in the suburbs or out-of-towners flying in and renting a car, each of those customers will need a parking space upon arrival," Dalal says. "Given there will be 150,000-plus in the city on Super Bowl Sunday, it's in each of those customers' best interest to secure their parking ahead of time. We are the only place customers can lock in a space whether they want to tailgate or park across the street from the stadium."

The company focuses on creating partnerships with parking lot operators and asset owners whose inventory can be listed on the site, taking a percentage of the transaction when a customer reserves a spot. The partners focus on lots close to high-traffic areas such as sporting and concert venues and theaters. Parking lots are vetted to make sure they're properly licensed by the city.

The proximity of Indianapolis to Chicago makes it easier to know which lots and operators to work with, Dalal says. For the Super Bowl, Park Whiz has actually had to turn away parking lot operators that waited until the last minute to try to list on the site for the weekend.

"It's a pretty fascinating process with regard to the Super Bowl," he says. "It's a great opportunity in terms of generating additional revenue and building the company profile."