THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE

I know everything is bigger in Texas. But the Super Bowl is bigger than anything you’ve ever seen

By David Silverstein

Monday, March 1, 2010 - 1:00am

Emerging Business Seminar, West Palm Beach April 2009

Trail of Trees Planting-April 2009/Everglades (Jack Groh holding shovel/I’m 2nd to left)

South Florida Host Committee Volunteers-Biltmore Golf Outing-November 2009

David Silverstein is the Director of Communications for the South Florida Super Bowl Host Committee. Having just wrapped up Super Bowl XLIV and the 2010 Pro Bowl, we’ve asked David to write columns for us on what North Texas can expect to see as we approach Super Bowl XLV. In his first article, David tells us how our region will start to take shape over the next year. It all begins with our Kick-Off Concert Series on March 6th with Faith Hill at Bass Hall in Fort Worth. Sting follows with a Dallas concert in May.

I know everything is bigger in Texas. But the Super Bowl is bigger than anything you’ve ever seen. I promise.

That said, you know things are going to be big when you have Faith Hill and Sting kicking off Super Bowl XLV festivities… and it’s only March! My advice to you is a quote from a Faith Hill song. Just ‘Breathe!’

Here’s the best way to explain what’s coming up.
Over the next few months, you’re going to start seeing subtle changes around North Texas. As the game gets closer, those changes are going to be everywhere. You can’t miss them.

In April, many of you may meet Jack Groh. He’s with the NFL’s Environmental Program. I first met Jack last year at sunrise in the middle of the Everglades. We planted a tree there to begin the NFL’s Trail of Trees Program. Jack planted trees at schools and in communities all over South Florida.

His goal is to now work with the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee to “green up” and help beautify your community.  Jack’s also in charge of ensuring the Super Bowl is as environmentally friendly as possible. Jack helps make sure any and everything that can be recycled is recycled after the Super Bowl. Extra food is donated to shelters. Needy schools get new supplies. Jack even had our stadium use recyclable energy. That’s just part of the impact of the Super Bowl.

As you move forward, your hometown will take on a new look. Local communities start cleaning up graffiti, picking up litter, and updating landscaping. It’s all part of ensuring North Texas sees long term benefits of hosting the Super Bowl. Nobody does it as big and as well as the NFL and they want to leave your community in even better shape than when they came in.

Many local companies are already enrolling in the NFL’s Emerging Business Program. Even with the game more than 300 days away, the Super Bowl brings a lot of new business to town. The NFL wants to make sure locally owned businesses benefit.

As all this happens, your Host Committee is busy signing up volunteers. It takes thousands of people to represent your community in a positive way. Often times those volunteers are the first people visitors will meet as they travel through your airports, your hotels and attend your events.

In Texas, we all know football always matters. As the Summer rolls on, your attention really begins to shift toward football season when training camps open. That’s  the beginning of nonstop Super Bowl excitement. Everybody knows the season culminates at Cowboys Stadium with Super Bowl XLV. And the Cowboys can become the first team to ever play the Super Bowl in their home stadium!

Here’s when you really start to feel it. As soon as the World Series ends, the country’s attention turns toward the NFL playoffs and the Super Bowl. By then, playoff scenarios are taking shape as everyone begins to predict who will be in Super Bowl XLV.

Your friends at the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee are now working nonstop. Besides handling all that comes with hosting your first Super Bowl, their job is to make sure all of North Texas is ready. The world is watching. Yes, things are bigger in Texas, and this is enormous.

Right after the holidays, you’ll see Super Bowl banners hanging all over the Metroplex. Skyscrapers are being wrapped in Super Bowl logos welcoming the world to North Texas. Road construction projects suddenly get finished. There’s new signs on the highways (and more traffic.) And before you know it, the game is kicking off.

Even if you’ve lived in Texas your whole life, you will never be prouder of your community than when the Super Bowl comes to town. Think back to when you were a child and how you felt on Christmas Eve. Or remember how you couldn’t sleep the night before that first trip to Disney World. Now multiply that excitement by a thousand. Just remember to “Breathe.”