FORT WORTH FINALLY HAS ITS TURN IN SUPER BOWL EXTRAVAGANZA

By Gil LeBreton/Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Thursday, July 29, 2010 - 11:33am

FORT WORTH — When the word came that owner Jerry Jones was plotting a bid to host the Super Bowl at his new Cowboys stadium, two things happened on this end of the turnpike.

We held our wallets. And we stood our ground.

For too long, Dallas has been the bully on this sports playground. While Dallas was raising a generation of J.R. Ewings, luring an NBA team, reveling in the renaissance of the Cowboys and hoisting a Stanley Cup, Fort Worth was too often seen as the kindly neighbor with the cowboy hat.

Change a law to help the Dallas airport? Sure, Fort Worth won’t mind.

The Texas Rangers are moving to Arlington? Well, our rivals to the east snickered, if the Rangers are that foolish, let them go.

To appreciate the history that was celebrated Thursday, you see, you have to remember the real history. To cherish the photo Thursday of the three mayors—Dallas, Arlington and Fort Worth—hoisting football jerseys to celebrate the countdown to Super Bowl XLV, you have to remember the days when the late, great Amon G.

Carter would carry a sack lunch to meetings in Dallas because he didn’t want a dollar of his own being spent there.

"We’ve come a long way since Amon used to carry a sack lunch to Dallas," Fort Worth mayor Mike Moncrief acknowledged Thursday.

Seated on the podium just a few minutes before were Jones, Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach. There were Cowboys greats scattered throughout the audience—in our town, at the Fort Worth Club.

Chaired by Staubach, the task force is officially—and, frankly, somewhat disarmingly—called the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee. Not the Dallas committee.

The game will be in Arlington. The AFC championship team will be headquartered for that week in Fort Worth.

"This isn’t Dallas getting the Super Bowl," said Bill Lively, president and CEO of the host committee. "It is North Texas, and our effort will be regional."

Aikman sees it as a golden opportunity to "galvanize North Texas. It’s good for this region."

For years, whenever Dallas reached its sporting hand across the two cities, it was usually to grab for money. Tarrant County businesses would line up to help sponsor —the failed 2012 Olympics bid, to name one—but the spotlight and venue were always Dallas.

The Super Bowl is too grandiose an undertaking, however, for even big Dallas.

In the one-year run-up to the Super Bowl, events are planned throughout the North Texas region. But it was a major coup for Fort Worth to be selected by the NFL to host the AFC champions.

For a week in 2011, we’ll be the home of, say, the New England Patriots or the Indianapolis Colts. The Fort Worth dateline will be on every AFC dispatch.
"To me, that tells me that the NFL gets it," Moncrief said. "They understand.

"It’s saying they understand that we have a unique geography and that we wanted to make this a regional effort."

The mayor was quick to point out that it isn’t the first time during his administration that Dallas and Fort Worth have worked together.

"Tom Leppert and I have worked together on air quality issues, on transportation and mobility issues and on airport issues.

There’s always going to be competition between cities. But we realize that we don’t have dotted lines between our cities anymore."

The sleek new logo of the host committee, sure enough, features a stylized silhouette of the new Cowboys stadium and the words "North Texas, host to Super Bowl XLV." The media guide of the committee makes room to mention not just the Cowboys and Mavericks, but also the Fort Worth Cats and TCU.

Not just Dallas’ Fair Park, but also the Stockyards, Sundance Square and the Kimbell Art Museum.

Forgive my provincialism. I just think it was a big deal—the biggest sports deal ever in our town—to have Jones, Staubach and Aikman here Thursday, all gushing about the coming big game.

A game not just for Dallas, but for Fort Worth, Arlington, Addison, Irving, Grapevine—all of North Texas.

It’s about time. The welcome mat has been waiting for a long time.