NO TEA PARTY

Rosie Moncrief, the First Lady of Fort Worth, assembles an All-Star team to sell the HC’s historic Kickoff Concert Series

By STEVE PATE

Thursday, July 29, 2010 - 11:26am

WORKING TOGETHER: Rose Moncrief (shown hugging Charlotte Jones Anderson) has made selling out the Kick-Off Concert Series a priority.

You peruse the names of the wives of big names who will be helping stage Super Bowl XLV’s Kick-Off Concert Series, and the unenlightened might suspect a few titles have been passed around like so much glitter.

They are the wives of local mayors, of the legendary Nolan Ryan, of the great Rangers catcher Jim Sundberg, of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, of Roger Staubach and on and on the impressive list goes.

But don’t be fooled. The five honorary chairs, 15 event co-chairs and, eventually, some 150 sales captains will not merely be posturing. They are ready to play hardball and, come next spring, put on perhaps the most spectacular package of three concerts in North Texas history.

In the rather pointed words of Rosie Moncrief, wife of Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief and by all means the First Lady of Fort Worth, “When I sought out my event chairs in Fort Worth, I sought out people that are hard workers. Most of them are professional businesswomen. They know how to get things done.

“This is not a tea party for us. It is serious.”

Here’s a starting lineup that could earn a nickname like Sluggers Row or America’s Team, if the titles weren’t already taken:

HONORARY CHAIRS: Linda Cluck, Gene Jones, Laura Leppert, Rosie Moncrief, Marianne Staubach.

EVENT CO-CHAIRS: Elaine Agather, Vicki Bass, Sandra Brown, Holly Pellham Davis, Cami Goff, Congresswoman Kay Granger, Diane Johnston, Karen Katz, Olivia Kearney, Ruth Ryan, Janet Sundberg, Debbie Tolleson, Kristin Vandergriff, Lee Ann White, Kathryn Wilemon.

Another layer, the sales captains, will consist of 10 women selected by each of the 15 event co-chairs; or, roughly 150 total working on the Kick-Off Concert Series.

Super Bowl XLV’s Kick-Off Concert Series will be the cornerstone of the historic 12-month countdown to North Texas’ first-ever Super Bowl. The Series will be the first of its kind in Super Bowl history and the largest and most significant volunteer-supported production in the history of North Texas.   

Three blockbuster performances will comprise the series: March 2010, at Fort Worth’s Bass Hall; a May 2010 concert at Dallas’ new Winspear Opera House; and, with the kickoff of the Super Bowl itself still five months away, a rollicking concert finale on September 2010 at Arlington’s new Dallas Cowboys Stadium.

Performers have yet to be determined, but superstars being discussed include names like Billy Joel, Tina Turner, Paul McCartney and more.

“We’ve tossed around names,” Rosie said. “It will be your higher echelon of talent. We’ve talked about Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, that caliber of talent.

“We will soon be given a list of artists, and the event chairs can get together and decide which talent would best fit their venue and their city.”

Staubach, chairman of the Super Bowl XLV North Texas Host Committee, has privately been campaigning the past few weeks for Faith Hill. Jokingly. Sort of.

Rosie offered, “At our board meeting on Tuesday, Mr. Chairman mentioned (the song) Elvira and I told him that we would be happy to dust off the Oak Ridge Boys and send them over to the brand new concert hall in Dallas to sing Elvira for him.

“But you know what? I don’t think Bill Golden (of the Oak Ridge Boys) looks quite like Faith Hill.”

Contracts with all three venues will be executed this spring; artists and entertainers will be decided this summer; promotion and marketing materials will also be developed over the summer; and, the Concert Committee will convene in September to launch the subscription sales campaign throughout the region.

It’s an ambitious, and delicious, approach.

“To be a part of a once-in-a-lifetime event is quite an honor,” Rosie Moncrief said. “When you have a Super Bowl in your area, and you have a Super Bowl unlike any other that’s ever been done in the history of the NFL, you not only have a short-term impact on your region, you have a long-term impact on your region.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to put a face on North Texas to the world.”

Of course, this is also a once-in-a-lifetime chance to bring more than this one Super Bowl to North Texas.

“We want in that rotation,” Rosie said, “and I feel very, very strongly that we will be in that rotation.”

Mrs. Moncrief already has a history with this Super Bowl. She was one of five to attend the NFL Owners Meeting in Nashville when North Texas won the 2011 bid.

“I still get goose bumps when I think about it,” she said. “I guess because my husband has been in politics for 30 years and I understand what an event of this size means to all of North Texas, I get it.

“And consequently, the people I put on my team get it as well. For instance, Congresswoman Kay Granger. You can’t have a stronger proponent for the area.”

Kit Sawers, who is quarterbacking this effort as the host committee’s vice president of special events, said the Kick-Off Concert Series will be promoted, marketed and sold on a subscription basis with the goal of selling a total of 1,902 subscriptions to performances in all three venues by December 31, 2009. In sports vernacular, that amounts to 1,902 season ticket holders who will buy one ticket for all three events.

That core audience of 1,902 season subscribers will be provided premium seats in the Cowboys’ new stadium for the series’ final concert, and the remaining tickets to the Arlington concert will be sold on a single-event basis. 
“This will be an opportunity to involve thousands of people from the North Texas community in a Super Bowl-related event,” Sawers said. “And it will allow us to raise funds to support North Texas hosting the Super Bowl.”

Sawers said the goal is to raise $3 million from the concert series. She said the 1,902 figure is based on the seating at Bass Hall once a sound board and other equipment are installed. The concert in Dallas will likely have about 200 more individual tickets available. The one in Arlington, of course, will be huge.

“Each of the concerts will have some type of Super Bowl presence,” Sawers said, “whether it is NFL Hall of Famers, former Dallas Cowboys players. They won’t just be concerts. There will be a strong NFL, Super Bowl XLV Host Committee and legendary football player presence at these events, which will be exciting for the audience – especially since not everyone will be able to attend the Super Bowl game itself.”

A series of ancillary events will also be produced in conjunction with the performances, for those who purchase premium subscriptions to the three concerts.

Ancillary events might include a private dinner hosted by the Honorary Chairs featuring the Series Masters or Mistresses of Ceremonies; private VIP receptions before and/or after each of the performances with the artists and entertainers; and, other hospitality benefits that will be made available through the host committee.

“The Kick-off Concert Series is indeed the kickoff of year-long events leading up to the crescendo of the most incredible Super Bowl the world has ever seen,” Mrs. Moncrief said.

And she’s not just tossing glitter.