NORTH TEXAS LEADERS

The Council of Mayors and North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee convened at Cowboys Stadium

By Steve Pate

Thursday, July 29, 2010 - 11:41am

To borrow from another sport’s vernacular, the Host Committee threw a doubleheader Monday at Cowboys Stadium.

In the opener, key members of the Host Committee apprised the North Texas Council of Mayors of recent events and encouraged mayors of a four-county region (Collin, Dallas, Denton and Tarrant) to look for their own ways to get their respective towns and communities involved in Super Bowl XLV.

If that includes North Texas towns creating their own festivals and events and submitting those ideas to the Committee, why not shoot for the moon? This is, after all, North Texas’ first-ever Super Bowl.

Thirty minutes following that meeting in the same American Airlines Lounge, the entire North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee met for an update on the progress being made on numerous fronts by the Host Committee staff and all the Action Teams that have been formed since January 2009 — and are still being created.

Both the Council of Mayors and the Host Committee were meeting for the first time since Super Bowl XLIV earlier this month in South Florida.

Arlington Mayor Dr. Robert Cluck was among the North Texas contingent to travel to South Florida. Once that final gun sounded, he admits he became acutely aware that all eyes would be shifting to North Texas and Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.

“It sunk in that the next one is ours,” Dr. Cluck said between the two meetings. “We’re prepared for it. We have another year to go, but it’s going to be terrific. This will be the best Super Bowl ever put on.”

Dr. Cluck said the South Florida experience, and other recent Super Bowls he has attended, opened his eyes to two primary factors.

“One is traffic,” he said. “You’ve got to really handle the traffic so people will have a good experience coming and going.

“And the other thing, you have to have a Plan B. Several of South Florida’s big events were rained out because they were outside and they didn’t have tents. So we’ve got to be prepared for any eventuality.”

Host Committee Chair Roger Staubach was the leadoff hitter for both ends of the doubleheader. In both meetings, speakers emphasized the SLANT 45 service-learning program for children, the Emerging Business Program for minority- and women-owned businesses, the Youth Education Town (YET), and the Kick-Off Concert Series that begins March 6 with Faith Hill performing at Fort Worth’s Bass Performance Hall.

Bill Lively, the Host Committee’s President & CEO, told the mayors that no matter what has been learned from studying recent Super Bowls elsewhere, XLV will wear its own kind of hat because this one is in North Texas.

“We’re trying to build a bigger, broader template here in North Texas, with the idea that XLV is not our last game, it’s our first game,” Lively told the mayors. “And the template needs to address the geography of our region, the politics of the region, the history of the region, our unique climate — things that make this place very, very special.”

Considering the size and diversity of North Texas, Lively compared XLV to “a mini-version of what nations do to plan for the Olympics, especially if it’s the first time you’ve ever done it. One of our biggest challenges is managing expectations.”

Tara Green, the Host Committee VP & COO, urged mayors, “Think about creating an event in your community. What can you do in your community to drive people to stay in your hotels? We have an online calendar of events. We can market those events for you. We can tell the fans coming in who are looking through our housing system where these events are taking place. People like to stay where there’s activity. Give them a reason to stay in your community.”

Troy Aikman, the Host Committee’s Vice-Chair, informed the Host Committee, “I’m proud of the fact that the North Texas Host Committee has not only met its responsibilities to the NFL, as far as what was in the bid, but we’ve actually surpassed that.”

One year away from the kick-off of North Texas’ first Super Bowl, excitement is building and the Host Committee is feeling a greater urgency to be prepared in all areas.

As Lively put it, “We are seeing the game on the horizon.”