Issue link: https://tmcpulse.uberflip.com/i/610185
t m c » p u l s e | d e c e m b e r 2 0 1 5 31 Q | You moved from the Fiesta Bowl to the Super Bowl. When did the transition happen? Do you focus solely on the Super Bowl or do you still handle other major events? A | What's interesting is that I did my Fiesta Bowl, and then in 1990, I started my own business called Spectacular Productions. My business partner was substantially older than I was and had a lot of experi- ence in large-scale events. My first Super Bowl experi- ence was 1991, when we worked on the pre-game show, and that was the famous Whitney Houston National Anthem. I can remember doing rehearsal with her in her white track suit and I was really exposed to this piece of the Super Bowl back then. Arizona was awarded the game for Super Bowl XXX and of course, because the Fiesta Bowl was and still is a very large presence in the Phoenix community—huge band of volunteers, very well organized sports, all of that— there was a lot of interest in taking some of the folks from the Fiesta Bowl and then moving them to the Super Bowl. My first true post-committee experience was 1996, Super Bowl XXX, but we played the game at Arizona State University, so the Cardinal stadium hadn't even been built yet. It was a very unique kind of experience for me, but what is fascinating is some of the people that worked for the NFL then in 1996, I am still working with today. Because of my business, I was doing a lot of other things, worked on other large- scale events that were not necessarily sporting events. Really getting a knowledge and understanding of the technical side of the equation, the operation side of the equation. I can remember shot sheeting back in the day when you used to have to go through film to put video together and all of that. Great, great, great opportunities for me to kind of learn the big picture. Q | Most people think of the Super Bowl as a global event that happens on a Sunday. Help us understand what is involved in staging a Super Bowl and the impact it will have on our city. A | The first thing is, the bid process is a very unique process. I have worked on four bids now for the Super Bowl and I liken it to the worst school project you would ever want to do in your life. I say that because you are chasing things, because you can't even be considered as a host city until you have fulfilled all of the requirements of a 153-page document that includes hotel contracts for over 19,000 hotel rooms, all of the venues that seat at least 1,000 people. It is so volumi- nous, but you have to have all of that stuff in place, because once you are awarded the game, you lose leverage. You have to have those things in place first. Q | Who decides to initiate a bid on a Super Bowl? A | First and foremost, it is the NFL owners, so for Houston it was Mr. McNair and the Texans. The owners are the ones who vote and determine where the Super Bowl is held. You certainly have to have the support and the desire from the owner in the city. From there, the actual RFP landed on Greg Ortel's desk who, at the time, was the president of the convention and visitors bureau. Now the relationship between them and Houston has kind of morphed together. Because it is like booking the biggest convention you can in your city, that is where it typically lands, at the convention and visitors bureau, but then you need the support of the city, county and other municipalities that have to come together and work together. There are lots of components to getting everyone together in short order to deliver. Q | Cities that host the Olympics are often challenged on the return on investment for hosting an Olympics. The Super Bowl, however, has the reputation of making positive contributions. How are they different? A | The main difference between the Olympics and the Super Bowl is there is no requirement by the NFL to build venues. The reason they come to a market like Houston is because we have a fabulous stadium, and the complex at NRG park, a very robust convention center and the hotels that associate with it. They start with that so there is no requirement for building infra- structure. I also think that the NFL has a very strong position on this legacy. One of the requirements of the bid is that we, as a committee, raise $1 million to go back into the community that the NFL Foundation matches. In our case, Ric Campo and I agreed that $2 million for a city this size just wasn't enough, so we committed to double that number and give $4 million back to the community through grants and charitable giving. Q | Is it too early to determine some of those projects that will contribute to the Houston community? A | What we have now is the umbrella concept of what we are doing. Super Bowl 50 will be played in San Francisco, actually Santa Clara, and this whole season is kind of a retrospective. The last 50 years of Super Bowl, the golden anniversary. So for us, Super Bowl LI is the launch of the next 50 years of Super Bowl, the future of Super Bowl. We certainly know in our com- munity, but want the rest of the world to understand, that Houston is the city of the future. We look like today what the rest of the United States is going to look like over the next couple of decades. We are really using that theme of future for everything that we do. As it pertains to the charitable giving, what makes up the future of Houston? We believe it is edu- cation, youth, health and wellness, and beautification or enhancement of our city. Those are the pillars of our charitable giving. Q | What are some of the key events that we can look forward to for Super Bowl LI in Houston? A | The day after Super Bowl 50, we are on the clock. We have some pretty exciting things so that certainly the Houston community, but hopefully the surround- ing nation as well, will be able to recognize us as the host. Kind of getting that momentum going right then. We will launch a lot of our community projects right then, with the launch of Super Bowl LI. Then with the Final Four, the NCAA and NFL are very mindful and respectful of each other's large-scale events and we will take our show on the road and let Final Four have their day in the sun. But we really feel strongly about communicating what we are doing to Austin, San Antonio, Beaumont and North Texas, reminding every- one that the Super Bowl is coming. So we will do a road show out in those communities and then really come back in the fall when football season kicks off and start doing some of these in our community. We are such a big geographical region—Katy, Sugar Land, Pearland— all of those folks need to first understand what we are doing as part of Super Bowl, but also ask, 'How do I get involved?' We need 10,000-plus volunteers to manage all of this, so we want to be able to draw from all of our communities to be able to participate and shrink down, down, down to a calendar of events. The host committee will sponsor and host a lot of civic events during that time and then our big crescendo is the 10 days prior to Super Bowl and then Super Bowl Central and the fan festival. In my mind there are two ways to produce a Super Bowl in a big city. You can keep your head down and just make sure you get the requirements done that the NFL needs and the community is kind of oblivious to what is going on. To your point, they think, 'Oh I don't have a ticket so there is nothing really in it for me.' A lot of times, it can leave a bad impression or a bad taste in a community's mouth, because I have extra traffic to deal with or road closures or whatever it is, so what is the benefit to me? We believe that you go about it another way and that is to embrace and really get the community involved and behind it and then offer some of these exciting ways to feel like you have been part of the Super Bowl, even if you are not inside the stadium. So the NFL Experience, which happens inside the George R. Brown, the NFL has created a very robust, interactive trade show, if you will, that has fun stuff for the kids and autographs from players and press conferences and all of that. Our idea of Super Bowl Central is to extend that out in the Downtown area as a free event for our community to then experience a lot of the Super Bowl experience, fun concerts in the evening, food and beverage, really just to get the Super Bowl experience. As it pertains to the charitable giving, what makes up the future of Houston? We believe it is education, youth, health and wellness, and beautification or enhancement of our city. Those are the pillars of our charitable giving. For the full interview, visit TMCNews.org