SPREADING 
THE WORD

Robbie Douglas and the Host Committee want to make sure everyone knows about the unique opportunities available via the NFL’s Emerging Business Program

By Steve Pate

Thursday, July 29, 2010 - 11:28am

HATS ON: Gina Puente-Brancato (left), chair of the Emerging Business Action Team, and Kathy Hubbard pose for a picture at a recent Host Committee meeting.

On a given Sunday, the passions of Super Bowl XLV will rock a stadium in Arlington and enthrall a worldwide television audience. But the fruits of those passions could impact the North Texas business community long after the game has come and gone.

That’s Robbie Douglas’ game plan. And it’s also her very own passion.

Douglas, formerly a Group Marketing Manager for PepsiCo Food Services, signed on with the Host Committee 
earlier this year to ensure that the North Texas business community felt the impact of the Super Bowl.

When the NFL created its Emerging Business Program in 1994, no one 
could have imagined its remarkable 
benefits for minority- and women-owned businesses.

Two years ago at Super Bowl XLII in Arizona, more than 500 business owners attended three workshop seminars. Last year in Tampa, almost 700 took part. 

There’s no way of knowing how large the three upcoming North Texas workshops will be, but here’s a clue: They are tentatively penciled in to be held at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Cowboys Stadium in Arlington and the Fort Worth Convention Center.“There’s so much enthusiasm for this Super Bowl by the business community and by small business owners,” says Douglas, Director of Business Development for the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee. “Everyone wants to know what can they do and how they can be involved.

“And so my No. 1 goal at the end of the day is to ensure that everyone in the business community knows about the Emerging Business Program. I can’t guarantee everyone will get a contract. But I plan to ensure that information saturates North Texas and every North Texas business understands how to 
participate.”

Working out of the NFL’s New York City offices, Tisha Ford is Manager of Events Business Development. It’s her team that liaisons with the NFL contractors who will require the many products and services from the North Texas businesses ranging from balloons to barricades to carpentry to catering to equipment rentals to florists and linens and novelties and signs and on and on.

Douglas will establish a database of all qualified candidates in the many categories, entitled “The Business Resource Guide,” then the NFL contractors will use Douglas’ information to make educated determinations.

As an example, for last year’s Super Bowl in the Tampa Bay area, 130 minority- and women-owned businesses were awarded roughly $4 million. The major qualification is that the business be owned at least 51 percent by a U.S. citizen who is a woman and/or a minority.

“For an event of the Super Bowl’s magnitude, it just made sense to create a program of this kind, especially once you recognize all that the Super Bowl touches — so many people and so many walks of life,” Ford says. “We are hands on in terms of explaining all the stages of procurement — funding, insurance, all the various different components that may come into play. It’s an exciting process.”

“We want these businesses, no matter how small they think they are, to know they can take this experience beyond that Super Bowl game,” Ford added. “They can be a viable participant in other big events that may come to the North Texas area after the Super Bowl is gone.”

Douglas echoes those sentiments, emphasizing, “This is a real opportunity to make an impact in North Texas, for our local community to directly benefit from the Super Bowl. It’s a great thing. Not everybody can go to the Super Bowl game. Not everyone can attend all the myriad of events. But, the fact that every business has the opportunity to compete for business is very exciting.”

For the local entrepreneurs, the Emerging Business Program also offers opportunities that do not necessarily fall under the supervision of the NFL or the Host Committee.

For example, small local businesses with the same services can band together to procure one contract. Businesses will also have the opportunity to provide services for all types of events surrounding the Super Bowl. “There are going to be independent events that happen around the North Texas region leading up to the Super Bowl,” Douglas says. “Many events aren’t official NFL events, but they may still be opportunities for our local businesses. I want to make sure everyone has that information.” 

Raised in Detroit, Douglas received a bachelor of science in computer science degree at Vanderbilt, then got her MBA in graduate school at the University of Michigan.

Five years at Coca-Cola in Dallas led to five more at PepsiCo, where she devoted her energies to small businesses and restaurants all over the nation.

Now she tackles her biggest project so far — how to bring an entire region into the Super Bowl mix. Specific dates and locations will be announced later, but Emerging Business Workshop I will debut in October. Deadline for applications for the Emerging Business Program will be January 2010. The second workshop will also be held in January, and the final will occur next April.

The demand for teamwork and excellence will be ongoing long before those same traits are demanded on the playing field come Super Bowl Sunday in Arlington, February 2011.

Robbie Douglas and Tisha Ford will see to that.