>> tonight on "titans at the table" we talk football and the big apple. >> there will be a coin toss right here. >> with the man who is bringing it all together. jonathan tisch, co-chairman of the loews corporation and co-owner of the new york giants. he was born and raised in a new york family. in 1959, his family branched out and bought loews theaters. today the loews have billions of dollars in assets that generate 15 billion of dollars in annual revenue with interest from everything in hotels, insurance, oil and gas, to theaters. jonathan tisch runs the company

with his cousins and is also the chairman of loews hotels. and made ithis area guest friendly. >> he completed a massive luxury renovation of a flagship hotel that is near and dear to his heart. >> i grew up in this hotel. >> that work has not stopped him from writing books. and bringing the super bowl to the new york region. >> you get about six hours of sleep? >> 5-6 hours of sleep. you will get an e-mail from me early in the morning. >> despite a grueling schedule, he tries to make it to every giants home game. i managed to catch up with him on a blustery day on his team's home turf, metlife stadium. it is incredible to be out here. how does it make you feel? >> pretty amazing. i think of what my father went through to afford us this

opportunity to be partners with the giants. >> bob tisch fulfilled his lifelong dream when he bought a 50% stake for the giants. it was for a reported the team $80 million. is valued at an estimate of $1.3 billion. it is co-owned by two families. if loews was a football team, what is your position? >> probably the coach. i'm not very day-to-day. very much true in the hotel business. i can sit in my office on madison avenue, but i'm not checking people into the rooms or making the beds. in that regard, i guess i would be the coach. understanding what is in your game plan, the playbook, and articulate it, and perform it. in the hotel business, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, you have to get it right every time. >> i know your family is a big

football family. why do you like it? >> you never know what will happen. a play contains the course of a game. you never know what will happen. it is exciting. the fans get involved. people are aspirational when it comes to their players. that puts more pressure on us to make sure the product we are putting on at metlife stadium is the best that it can be. with technology today, it is easy to sit in your man cave, woman cave, and watch a game. we want people to come out and experience it live and sit in the stadium. 82,500 of them and say it was an enjoyable experience, and you sat in traffic and maybe snowflakes fell on your head, but that is part of the experience. >> coming up -- >> some of the best games have been played in severe weather. ♪

>> filling all 82,500 seats at metlife stadium is no easy task. the stadium is in new jersey. it is just across the hudson river from new york. metlife opened its doors four years ago. jonathan tisch was instrumental in getting it built. it is the only stadium that houses two nfl teams, the giants and the jets. it is the largest in terms of seating capacity. all of those seats came with a hefty price tag. >> this is an amazing building. it cost $1.6 billion to build. people said to us, why is there no roof on it? that would have been more money , another $400 million. it is important to note there is not a dime up public money in this building. it is all privately financed. it was quite a remarkable accomplishment. >> the stadium will be in the

spotlight in early february when it plays host to the most-watched sporting event in the world -- the super bowl. >> super bowl is a great opportunity for this region, for new york and new jersey. this is a super bowl of a lot of firsts. first time it is being hosted by two teams, the first time it is being hosted by two states and one big city. the first time the game is being played in a northern city and a building without a roof. >> bringing the super bowl to the new york region has been a decade-long effort for tisch. it began after 9/11 when he began pitching the idea to nfl politicians as a way to jumpstart an economy. it was not until the metlife stadium was built in 2010 that idea caught on. >> the nfl owners liked to bring game to some of the newer stadiums to highlight them so the world can see this great

facility. >> many will be watching super bowl xlviii. perhaps no venue is better prepared for an event like this. 20 times a season, metlife undergoes a transformation. a staff of 20 takes two days to change it from one team to another. that includes the removable endzone. the turf from one team is rolled up and stored under the stands and another team's turf is rolled out. special turf will be rolled out for it. that is about all nfl is saying. >> what are some of of the cosmetic changes? >> you will find out when i find out. >> this will be different? >> i know we are standing on the 50 yard line. [laughter] there will be a coin toss right here. >> together with the owner of the jets, tisch is the cochairman of the super bowl host committee.

that means making sure this stadium he helped build is ready for the big game. >> a lot of responsibility. what keeps you up at night? >> the scale. the sheer number of things that have to get done, the sheer number of issues that we have tried to think of, to plan for. power is the big issue here. a blackout affected the superdome. >> can you guarantee no power failure? >> so much work has gone into ensuring that there will not be a power failure. there is back up. there are contingency plans. generators on-site. never say never. you cannot promise 100%. but we have done a lot of work. due to the security perimeter that will be built around metlife stadium, we're losing half of our parking spaces. we are trying to call this the first public transportation super bowl. we are working closely with the mta, new jersey transportation authority to make sure buses and

trains will transfer people to the games. >> i can hear new yorkers. you know them. they will say, what? i'm getting out of the city during super bowl. what do you say to that? >> my advice is not to leave town. there'll be a lot of fun and excitement. >> they will talk about the traffic and the hassle. how am i going to get to work? >> they will say that anyway. new yorkers do complain, but new yorkers are very generous. they appreciate when something special is taking place. >> another problem -- mother nature. >> there had to be a rule change in terms of us being able to bid on getting the super bowl. that it had toe be in a city where the average mean temperature the day of the game is above 50 degrees.

that is if the stadium is open. that is clearly not the case in february and the new york and new jersey area. >> they changed that rule for this game? >> it went away. >> he says they are ready for the snow. >> we have a snow melt are on the concourse and one on the field. we have a snowmelter we can use. in the parking lot. they have a jet engine inside. the heat that is produced from the jet engines is what melts the snow. >> it is a big operation. >> no matter what the weather, it will be a great game. >> some of the greatest games in the history of the nfl have been played in severe weather. it may snow, rain, but it could also be 45 degrees and gorgeous. super bowl xlviii at metlife stadium will be exciting. we want to make sure that the region knows that the super bowl is in here. >> when we come back, jonathan

tisch confesses a secret. >> when people ask me what i have been doing, i'm a frustrated architect. ♪

>> the regency hotel had been an institution since the day it opened back in 1963. in january, to celebrate the grand reopening, jonathan tisch, chairman of the loews hotel, was on hand to welcome the guests back. a few weeks before it opened, they gave a sneak peek of the hotel. workers buzzing around putting the finishing touches on the lobby. >> the loews regency hotel is our flagship. 50 years ago, my father and uncle opened this hotel.

it was an integral part of how they wanted to build hotels which is worked into the loews corporation. the hotel business is at the root of where our family started going back 75 years ago with hotels in new jersey. this hotel has become very important to the image of loews hotel. it has become very important to the bottom line. i grew up in this hotel. since i was 12, i have been walking the corridors and know many of the workers who have been here since the beginning. >> you stayed at this hotel yourself. >> emotionally, there is a connection. physically, there is a connection. financially, there is a connection. >> what was the most difficult part of renovating this hotel? >> the challenge we faced was once we got into that building

and went behind the walls, i can to the realization that my father and uncle did not spend a lot of money when they were building it 50 years ago. we found some conditions that made it challenging to rebuild at the pace that we were hoping to. >> structural issues. >> structural. because of super bowl we knew , that we had an end date that we really did not want to go beyond. we had to scramble. >> you have spent $100 million. it was the most that has been on any renovation. why so much? >> we felt $100 million was necessary to bring the regency back to a place that fits the neighborhood, but also the vision that we had for this hotel. the $100 million mark improves the rooms and the restaurant and the fitness center and the salon and the new lobby, but we replaced every window. the windows were 50 years old. guests will appreciate that. we're looking to raise rates 20-25%. that is not a small amount, but

we think the product and service will warrant that. we totally took this area and we made the area guest friendly. >> the renovation costs from an initial estimate of $35 million to the $100 million. he says it is all part of his plan to boost the image of all 21 of his loews hotels. how long before you can make the money back? >> it is hard to look at a real roi in terms of every dollar and every penny. we want to get economic return and what this hotel means to loews hotels from an emotional standpoint. you cannot quantify. we had to make a commitment to our company that the flagship hotel a block from our office is at a standard that represents the rest of our orientation. we are continuing to grow. in the last two months, we

bought three hotels. we bought one in california and one in washington, d.c. we have two hotels under construction from scratch. one is in chicago. it will open in february of 2015. another hotel in orlando. our fourth in orlando. it comes back to new york city. it is a focus point of the u.s. travel and tourism industry. >> right. >> we wanted to have a property that we were proud of and make a good return on investment. >> any return depends on visitors to the city. tisch has worked closely with the past mayors to improve new york city's image. he helped kick off the new york times square makeover. he was instrumental in the campaign to bring tourists back after 9/11. so far, his efforts seem to be working. new york had 54 million visitors in 2013. the regency sold out for super bowl weekend about a month

before it even opened. it is not just about keeping hotels full. tisch says tourism is critical for the new york economy. >> it is about the jobs. it is about good jobs. it is about the ability for visitors to come and spend money so we can hire more new yorkers. if you look in new york, 330,000 people are making a living in some aspect of travel and tourism. we are reaching out to the right visitors. we want to bring in the international travelers. that is extremely important. they stay longer and spend more money here. >> he is hoping the locals return as well. since 1970, the regency has been home to the power breakfasts. business leaders and politicians convene every morning over coffee to get their day started. >> you look at the history of the power breakfast. it started 45 years ago by my father. >> your father and your uncle. >> right. these were the times new york

city was in very dark financial shape. the leaders of the city at the time came together to talk about how to save new york city. >> and they did it right here? >> everyday they would say, where should we meet? my father said, it is a bit selfish on my part because i only had to take an elevator, but let's meet at the regency. [laughter] that is literally where the term power breakfast started. we will reestablish the regency as the home of the power breakfasts where people want to come to see and be seen. >> coming up, what kind of hotel room does $100 million buy? what is the most expensive part? >> the bathrooms are very expensive. ♪

>> just before it reopened, jonathan tisch gave me a tour of the newly renovated loews regency in manhattan. >> here we go. after you. >> all right.

newly renovated rooms. you have designed -- you pick ed out almost everything in this room. >> i can tell you stories behind the carpet, behind the finish on the dresser, behind artwork, behind the pillows. you start with carpet and you have a color idea. there might be a gray scheme. it will be presented as a warm grey scheme and then a cool gray scheme. >> this is what? >> cool gray scheme. >> it has 380 rooms. each room is brand-new with almost all of the design elements selected personally by tisch himself. the most expensive part -- the marble bathrooms. >> the bathroom has become a point of competition. a lot of new hotels has big bathrooms that sparkle. we wanted the bathrooms to -- >> i noticed there was a television.

>> we have televisions in the mirrors. every bathroom has a tv in it. >> one thing i had to ask is do you test the mattresses out? >> i have tested many. my wife and i have stayed in this hotel. >> it is comfortable. do you do this in every one of your hotels? you pick every piece of fabric? >> we have lots of renovations. we bought a hotel in hollywood, california. we finished up a renovation. and nashville, tennessee, $12 million on a new lobby and restaurant. we redid all of the guest bathrooms. i have picked every fabric. >> what is it like? you walk into a room and say yes, yes, no, no? >> designers will show lots of different fabrics. i will ask to make it greener. make this bluer. can this be lighter? darker? we will be in their offices or they will be in our offices throwing around different fabric swatches. >> do you have an idea that this is what the room will look like? >> i did, but it took us a few

reiterations to get to the point that we as a company were happy. when people ask me what i would be doing if i wasn't in the hotel business, i admit that i'm a frustrated architect. >> you love this stuff. >> i really do. >> but some people would go nuts having to make all those decisions. >> i love it. i get excited about what we can create. >> it is a good thing tisch likes picking out the wallpaper. the lifespan of hotels, things like pillows, carpets, chairs, drapes is only about six years. the major renovation like this is a major gamble. he admits it will take some time before he knows that it was worth it. >> you make decisions that you hope are right, you will not know the answer for six months to a year to see how your revenue numbers start to come in. believe me, i'm losing a lot of sleep over it.

my wife asked me, what are you worried about? what happens if no one likes it? >> the industry tends to rise and fall with economy. the big chains dominate. >> there are so many good operators. lots of companies that are very good at what they do. there are lots of options. if somebody checks out here and they see that they pay a couple of hundred bucks and were not happy, all they had to do is walk out the front door on park avenue and take a right and there are some great hotels. and now with social media, you have to find a way to differentiate yourself from the competition. you have to offer a product and service that people can relate to and feel good about using. >> how do you make sure that loews differentiates itself? >> we will have some properties that are much smaller than the

big-name business. we will be competing against a hyatt and the fairmont. we could be competing against the four seasons. why people want to come back here is the service. they say, welcome back. >> it is a welcome for many this year, including nfl fans, new york tourists, and his regency hotel guests. a lot is riding on a simple hope that they enjoy the new hotel as much as he does. >> it is our best shot at it. we spent $100 million to reinvent loews regency hotel. it always comes back to the basic great service, but now in a new box. ♪

>> this week on "political capital" -- nancy pelosi on benghazi and immigration. >> they would test an immigration bill. >> peter roskam on ukraine and the select benghazi committee. obama's big week and margaret carlson and megan mcardle debate guns. we begin the program with the house democratic leader nancy pelosi of california. thank you for being with us. the president accepted the resignation of eric shinseki who you have highly praised and said