FLYING SOUTH

Super Bowl XLIV in South Florida will help prepare North Texas for the big stage

By Steve Pate

January 26, 2010

The North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee and its contingent of staff, sponsors and representatives will be spreading themselves all over southern Florida for upcoming Super Bowl XLIV. This is the last time they get to watch how others put on the game, before it comes to Cowboys Stadium on Feb. 6, 2011.

Tara Green, the Host Committee’s Vice President & COO, and Kit Sawers, VP of Special Events, will fly to Miami on Friday to observe the Pro Bowl just prior to Super Bowl Week. Vice President of Communications Tony Fay will touch-down on Monday, followed by a congregation of some 50 North Texans that will join them mid-week.

Green had traveled to the South Florida Super Bowl in 2007 while doing homework for the Bid Committee that landed North Texas its first-ever Super Bowl. In Phoenix in 2008, she was part of the official North Texas Host Committee, but without a staff. By last year’s Tampa Super Bowl, a staff had been pieced together just weeks prior; and, the staff for the first time was immersed in the Super Bowl culture.

This time, it’s all about learning what to do, and perhaps what not to do, in relation to Super Bowl XLV.

“It will be very interesting to see how a region that has hosted a Super Bowl so many times coordinates everything,” said Sawers, regarding this as the 10th time for the Miami-area to host the game of games. “We’re looking forward to seeing the pros work their magic.

“I’m also looking forward to the Pro Bowl and seeing how another type of football game is put on. That may give us some ideas, as well as seeing how they put on a Super Bowl in that stadium.”

Green and Sawers are departing a few days early not only to observe the Pro Bowl but to set up the North Texas booth, which will be up and running at the Westin Hotel’s Super Bowl Headquarters in Fort Lauderdale from this Sunday until Super Bowl Sunday on Feb. 7.

“I hope our booth really captures the imagination of the media because it’s representative of Cowboys Stadium,” Green said. “The stadium’s arches are replicated in miniature, and we’ll have a center-hung scoreboard, actually a giant video screen, in our booth to replicate what the scoreboard at Cowboys Stadium looks like. We’ll use it for video projections, invite the media in to play Madden 2010, just make it a comfortable place to visit.

“We recognize the stadium is the new ‘wow’ factor. It’s an amazing, amazing place and we want to play off that. And while we capture their imagination with the stadium, then we’ll talk with them about all that North Texas has to offer.”

Twelve North Texas Convention & Visitors Bureaus will staff the booth every day, from the cities of Addison, Arlington, Dallas, Denton, Farmers Branch, Fort Worth, Frisco, Grapevine, Irving, Lewisville, Plano and Richardson.

Although this is South Florida’s record-setting 10th Super Bowl, most have been concentrated in Miami. The fact that this one is spread out into neighboring counties should benefit the North Texas group.

“It’s certainly helpful for us to see how the communities and municipalities will cooperate with each other,” Sawers said. “It’s also helpful for South Florida because more communities pitch in financially, which is why it’s more regionally-focused than city-focused.

“It will be a great template for us to check out before we have a similar type experience here.”

North Texas Host Committee staff members have spent time in 2009 visiting South Florida, and they always come back impressed and appreciative.

“The South Florida Host Committee and my counterpart, Nikki Fiedler, have been tremendously helpful,” Sawers said. “It amazes me how they have bent over backwards to make sure that we have all the information that we need, all the passes to get into the various events that we need to see. They are just wonderful.

“The Tampa Host Committee last year was the exact same way, and we certainly plan to help the Indianapolis committee (for Super Bowl XLVI) in that same way. That has been as beneficial as anything in the planning of this trip.”

The upcoming NBA All-Star Game at Cowboys Stadium should provide additional insight. Sawers said she plans to attend “as many NBA All-Star events as possible to gauge traffic flow, fan elements and all the different components that go into putting on something that scale in our region.”

But it’s South Florida that is staging the final tune-up to the ultimate game of games.

“I, personally, am taking a big picture approach to this trip,” Green said. “I’m looking at transportation logistics: How does game day management set up their shuttle systems? Where are the shuttles stationed in front of hotels? How and when and where are streets blocked off?

“I’m interested in the parking at the stadium, the secured perimeters of the stadium. And now we’ve got staff that will be focusing on their own respective areas.” 

And on Super Bowl Sunday?

“Every Host Committee has told us by the time it gets to Game Day, our work is done,” Green said. “It’s the NFL’s game. They handle everything on the field of play. Our role is to entertain our sponsors and our guests, and to enjoy the fruits of our labor.”

After Florida, North Texas is on the clock.

“I feel we’re in pretty good shape,” Sawers said. “Our staff has really jelled this past year, and our volunteers have really participated. I’m not as nervous about it as I was a year ago, when I didn’t really know what to expect. This time it’s more about confirming things than seeing things for the first time.”

That game with the Roman numerals has seemed so far away. Now it and the many events surrounding North Texas’ first Super Bowl really are on the way.