“LAYING A FOUNDATION”

With a quarter of 2009 already in the books, the Host Committee is off to a quick start — even though a “mighty task” still awaits

By STEVE PATE

Thursday, July 29, 2010 - 11:06am

If Bill Lively were your local TV weatherman, he might report that the North Texas Host Committee forecast for the rest of 2009 calls for sunny days with enormous activity on all horizons.

But this is a real Texas tornado that the host committee is facing head-on. Lively, the Host Committee’s president and CEO, was not exaggerating when he referred to Super Bowl XLV as “the biggest event in the history of North Texas since the construction of the DFW Airport about 35 years ago.”

He added, “We’re laying a foundation for the future, to bring more Super Bowls and other events to North Texas, and that’s a mighty task.”

So far, it’s been mostly clear skies – especially considering how swiftly and smoothly the operation has taken hold.

The committee achieved 501(c)(6) certification as a non-profit organization in the fall of 2008, a mere half-year ago. Lively then started putting together a complete, fulltime staff of employees and volunteers.

COO Tara Green and her top assistant Carly Christopher became the first two fulltime employees at that time. But the massive project really did not kick into gear until the Dallas and Fort Worth offices opened in January. Today, Lively offered northtexassuperbowl.com the first quarterly report.

“We’ve been operative for a little more than a quarter of a year and that includes the week we took off to cover the Super Bowl in Tampa,” he said.

Lively gives a mere sampling of activities during the first quarter of 2009:

A business plan was prepared and approved by the Host Committee Board of Directors, which itself had to be created. The plan includes two major budgets for the 2009 calendar year.

The Host Committee was expanded to include 250 leaders from many professions throughout the region.
Appointments were made for several of the Host Committee’s vital Action Teams – the Finance Team, the Communications Team, the Government Relations Team, the Sponsor Development Team, Troy Aikman’s Legends Team, and, most recently, the Aviation Action Team and the Transportation Action Team.
$9 million in commitments were secured by underwriting (founding) sponsors, a Super Bowl record.
Among the standing committees is an historic Council of Mayors – involving 112 mayors from the North Texas region. The Council has already met once with more to come.
The Host Committee has worked with the NFL to help the league understand the desire to make this a regional event. The NFL responded by naming Fort Worth as the host city for the AFC champions and Dallas the host city for the NFC champs.
Media attention has already been enormous.
The Kick-off Concert Series action teams --- composed of 160 civic-minded women – have been constructed from scratch. Venues and dates for the three major concerts have already been set. The performers will be announced later in the year.

And that just scrapes the proverbial surface. As Lively put it, “It’s been a very good three months.”

Fast, too. And nothing will slow as the snowball builds toward Super Bowl XLV in February 2011.

“When the Host Committee signed off on the business plan and the physical budget for 2009,” Lively said, “that enabled us to go back with our staff and identify goals for the first quarter, and then goals for the second quarter. The goals for the second quarter are many; they’re in finance, sponsorships, communications, operations, and other areas as well.”

In just the second quarter of 2009, the Host Committee goal is to raise six more $1 million founding sponsors.

Also in the next four to six weeks, the committee expects to launch a campaign for sponsorships of less than $1 million. To that regard, the committee has signed a contract with Premier Partnerships, a nationally respected sports and entertainment sales and marketing firm that specializes in generating revenue.

The Host Committee has also signed a contract to develop an Economic Impact Study for the region that will begin the last week of April.

“That’s important,” Lively said, “because this study will qualify the region to be a candidate for a grant from the State of Texas Other Events Trust Fund.”

In May, the Host Committee will begin discussions with the mayors and city managers throughout the region to affirm their commitments that were a part of the original Super Bowl bid.

“We’ll go over what those commitments mean in terms of services, products and cost,” Lively said, “and that’ll be important because we want to understand where there are reimbursement opportunities among the cities and the Host Committee from the State of Texas Other Events Trust Fund.”

On May 12, a major press conference will announce the sites of the various events that will be staged leading up to the Super Bowl – 14 to 15 major events, outside of the Concert Series, put on by the Host Committee and the region, along with the NFL.

“All of that is just for the second quarter,” Lively said. “The rest of the year, there’s a lot of stuff.”

Lively expects by the third quarter the Host Committee will have a large chunk of its operating revenue confirmed. Also by the end of the calendar year, discussions will have occurred with most North Texas cities to determine everything from public safety to transportation support to countless other commitments made during the bid process.

Besides the announcements of upcoming events and their venues at the May 12 press conference, there’ll be even more activities, all in an effort to involve all of North Texas.

“We’ll work with cities and towns to plan other events and other activities that’ll go on during the 12-month countdown to the Super Bowl,” Lively said, “so that we’re doing lots of things involving lots of neighborhoods, so that families throughout the region can touch the game in one way or another.”

Lively conceded, “It’s an enormous project, and that’s because of what this game can mean to North Texas beyond simply being the Super Bowl.

“We have all of the obligations and commitments embodied in the (original Super Bowl) bid, but we’re treating the Super Bowl as a catalyst to provide the region with an opportunity to foster new friendships and relationships among cities and towns and people that will linger long after the game.”

If successful, those relationships will prepare the region to work together in attracting future Super Bowls and other important sports, cultural and entertainment events.

“That’s a very complicated thing to do,” Lively said, “because there’s no real track record there.”

There is now – for one quarter of a calendar year, anyway. Thus far? The weather report calls for nothing but blue skies.