WHEN MAYORS MEET

Mayors from across the region come together for an update on Super Bowl planning

By Hy Cotten

Thursday, July 29, 2010 - 11:16am

Mayors from every nook and cranny of a four-county area of North Texas were encouraged Monday to spread the word regarding the many facets of the region’s first-ever Super Bowl.

The second meeting of the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee’s Council of Mayors was held at Cowboys Stadium’s SONY Lounge. Mayors from communities in Collin, Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties received updates on a wide range of matters.

Never before has a Host Committee involved a Council of Mayors. And this North Texas Council did not exist until the Host Committee pulled it together. History is clearly in the making.

Among the topics covered:

• Host Committee Chair Roger Staubach encouraged all mayors to offer their input on the many events that will be held in 2010 leading up to the kickoff in February 2011.

• “We’re Texas, we’re football country,” Staubach said. “We have a marvelous facility. When we put this thing on, we’re going to do it right. And they [the NFL] are going to want to come here again.”

• Arlington Police Chief Theron Bowman, Chair of the Public Safety Action Team said he is committed to using the Super Bowl as a means to form collaborations and partnerships with law organizations and fire departments throughout North Texas for years to come.

• Michael Morris, Director of Transportation for the North Central Texas Council of Governments, briefed the mayors on the importance of promoting the Tom Landry Super Bowl Highway and passenger rail for the Super Bowl.

• Bob Porter of Arlington Municipal Airport detailed the challenges for the Host Committee’s Aviation Action Team.

• Gigi Antoni and Amanda Gibbons of Big Thought, a Dallas-based, non-profit organization that is partnering with the Host Committee to establish a service-learning education program for children (SLANT 45), apprised mayors of their imaginative game plan to get students involved in their communities.

As Host Committee President & CEO Bill Lively put it while wrapping up the meeting, Super Bowl XLV will be far more than a game.

Lively said “there are lots of moving parts” that are “involving this region like never before.” He posed the question: “What will be here when the lights of this stadium dim?”

That’s been a major theme for this North Texas Super Bowl Host Committee all along — building a better, more unified region thanks to the world’s biggest game.

The Council of Mayors are the valued messengers of that effort.