So much could have gone wrong but city and state officials say their plan was executed better than any well-practiced football team could have done on a field.

Although it is still too early to know the exact economic impact of the DNC, the Downtown Denver Partnership is expecting huge numbers. The16th Street Mall was bustling with business and the restaurants were packed.

About 19,000 hotel rooms were booked in Denver this week; 17,000 of them were booked by the DNC itself.

"We showcased Denver in such a fabulous way," said Gov. Bill Ritter (D-Colo.)

"The hundreds of thousands of people who saw Denver and Colorado and this region over the last 7 days are going to come back as tourists," said Richard Scharf, the president and CEO of the Denver Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau. "We know this is going to pay great dividends. In the future, conventions are going to look at us and say you can handle anything."

In the short term, a lot of cash is expected to come into the state during a really soft economic period of travel as children go back to school and summer ends.

"People make money somewhere else, they spend it here. It creates jobs, it pays taxes - taxes that we would otherwise have to pay. It supports the stadiums, RTD, all good for Denver," said Scharf.

In the long term, Denver has been showcased on a national and international stage that will bring tourism and business to the state for years to come.

The Denver Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau says the city was shown as an affordable, accessible, safe place to come.

Not everyone was happy with the way the DNC went down. More than 150 people were arrested. City officials say that's not bad compared to New York's 1,800 arrests four years ago when that city hosted the Republican National Convention.