Super Bowl 2011 / Cowboys Stadium

Now showing: Trailer for 'SLANT 45, The Movie' at a computer near you

Why don't you put some popcorn in the microwave, grab a beverage and sit down at your computer to watch the trailer, or what us older folks used to call "coming attractions," for Slant 45, The Movie. 

You can watch the trailer here.

SLANT 45 is the education outreach program initiated by the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Committee, which is using the Super Bowl to engage elementary school children in North Texas to participate in projects to improve their community. Some of the projects thus far include beautifying school campuses, eliminating gang-related graffiti and helping children who are victims of domestic abuse. 

The goal is to have more than 20,000 North Texas kids enrolled. Former Dallas Cowboys star Daryl Moose Johnston is the SLANT 45 chairman. SLANT 45 The Movie, the feature-length film by Mark Birmbaum, will debut in January 2011. Plans are that it will be shown at film festivals.

-- Pete Alfano        

NFL ready to do some test-driving at Cowboys Stadium

The lunch break has ended and the NFL owners are reconvening to hear presentations by the three city/regions bidding for the 2014 Super Bowl.

When they emerge at 3 p.m. or thereafter it will be to announce the host city from among New York-New Jersey, South Florida and Tampa. No puffs of white smoke, just a news conference with the winners. 

Frank Supovitz, vice president of events for the NFL, sits in during the presentations and vote and will learn where he will be overseeing preparations in 2014.

Supovitz made an unannounced visit to North Texas last week to "tweak" plans for Super Bowl XLV at Cowboys Stadium on Feb. 6.

He said that when the NFL returns for its second scheduled visit the week of June 14, the final plans will be presented and implemented to everyone involved in Super Bowl XLV.

He said he hasn't run into any unexpected problems but "that's why they're unexpected," meaning that even the best-laid plans can run into snags. He said the league will move into the stadium "right after the Cotton Bowl moves out.

"That's when we'll build the compounds outside the stadium and build a hard perimeter," Supovitz said.

He added that the NFL will also be making some subtle changes in the stadium during the season that won't be visible.

He said Cowboys Stadium is "like a new sports car."

The NFL will be taking it out for a spin in February.

-- Pete Alfano

It's hurry up and wait at the NFL owners meetings in Las Colinas

League meetings, whether is the NFL, MLB or the NBA are an exercise in patience.

It's basically hurry up and wait as officials walk by with that places to be and things to do stride while members of the media type away on laptops as I'm doing or entertain themselves with the latest gossip.

At noon, the NFL is expected to announce a partnership with Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), which is based in North Texas. And the NFL Players Association is holding a news conference at a nearby hotel to talk about retired player issues.

Presentations for the 2014 Super Bowl will begin at 1:30 p.m. with New York-New Jersey, South Florida and Tampa the three contenders.

The feeling is that New York has locked up the bid, which would make it the first cold-weather Super Bowl site with an outdoor stadium.

But we'll see if there is a surprise in store and the owners get cold feet before the fans do. Until then it's just refilling the coffee cup enough times to fail a caffeine drug test.

-- Pete Alfano

Roger promises NFL owners a 'super' experience in North Texas

The National Football League is in North Texas on Tuesday for meetings that will include awarding the 2014 Super Bowl to either New York-New Jersey, Tampa or Miami.

But Roger Staubach, chairman of the North Texas XLV Super Bowl Committee, is taking the opportunity to let the league owners that the 2011 Super Bowl Week, culminating with the game at Cowboys Stadium on Feb. 6, is going to be memorable.

"We're going to put on a great Super Bowl for the NFL," Staubach said. "We've raised our funds. We've done a pretty good job. People have been pretty generous, and we've got the state trust fund. We want to get (the Super Bowl) back again, so we want to do this thing right."

Staubach is of the opinion that New York will win out for the 2014 game because "It's New York," but said the NFL is taking a chance on holding the game for the first time in an outdoor stadium at a cold weather site.

"We couldn't do it without a covered roof," he said.

Cowboys Stadium is the centerpiece of the North Texas bid and the region's plans to also bid for the 2016 game -- the 50th anniversary of the Super Bowl.

"This stadium is special," Staubach said. "The NFL is going to be proud of this stadium and what it means to the fans and the capabilities and things we can do in the stadium.

"I think the owners are going to feel really good about the atmosphere and our commitment. We're going to schmooze the heck out of the owners."

-- Pete Alfano and Charean Williams    

  

Van Cliburn, 90-piece orchestra among highlights of Super Bowl concert finale

Fort Worth's Van Cliburn, a live 90-piece orchestra and a series of short films celebrating the Cowboys' Super Bowl victories are among the highlights of the finale in the Super Bowl Kickoff Concert Series, scheduled for September at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.

"XLV Countdown Live from Cowboys Stadium" will be headlined by a Grammy Award-winning artist who has sold 40 million albums, according to the North Texas Super Bowl Host Committee.

The performer is scheduled to announce his or her participation at an upcoming concert.

The announcements were made Saturday night before the second concert in the series, a performance by Sting at the Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center in Dallas.

The series of films will be created by NFL Films. The night will include a tribute to Cowboys great Emmitt Smith, the NFL's all-time leading rusher.

Faith Hill opened the concert series at Bass Hall in Fort Worth.

-- Preston Jones

Taste of the NFL fighting hunger online

The Super Bowl is more than a game - it's a week-long event and Fort Worth will be an integral part of the festivities. Not only is the AFC champion headquartered in Cowtown, but the Taste of the NFL will also be held at the Fort Worth Convention Center. And to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the food fest, the National Football League is encouraging football fans and foodies to visit www.TasteoftheNFL.com by the end of May and make a donation to help fight hunger in the U.S.

It may be hard to believe but there are Americans who don't have enough to eat. According to the founder of the Taste of the NFL, 38 percent of those who go to food banks are fist time visitors, many of them because of the deep recession. So the NFL wants to get 20,000 donations to help feed those in need. It says that every dollar contributed provides seven meals.

The Taste of the NFL brings together an outstanding chef from each of the 32 franchise cities in the league to prepare their signature dish. It will be held on Feb. 5, from 7-9 p.m. Guest tickets are $500; a VIP ticket is $600 and allows you to enter at 6 p.m. A corporate table seating 10 is $6,000. Proceeds go to help fight hunger in the U.S. For more info call 952-835-7621.    

Pete Alfano

Jordin 'sparking' interest in SLANT 45

Jordin Sparks, winner of American Idol in 2007, has joined the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Committee’s SLANT 45 education initiative for elementary schools kids in North Texas.

Everyone who registers for the project, which encourages kids to perform community service, by June 15 will be entered to win a chance to meet Sparks and attend her sound check at The House of Blues in Dallas before her June 29 concert.

Sparks, who was just 17 when she won the sixth season of Idol,has a football connection. Her father is Phillippi Sparks, a former defensive back for the New York Giants.

She is the second celebrity to become affiliated with SLANT 45. Last week, the Gary Patterson Foundation made a $1,500 donation to the program.

The presentation was made by Kelsey Patterson, wife of the TCU football coach, at Clarke Elementary in Fort Worth

The Patterson Foundation will also sponsor a contest for Tarrant County kids who register for SLANT 45. The winners will get a tour of TCU's campus and athletic department, and meet Gary Patterson and his team. Winners will also receive tickets to a select TCU football home game.

The SLANT 45 initiative is managed by Big Thought, a Dallas-based nonprofit organization, in partnership with the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Committee.

The goal is to use the backdrop of the Super Bowl to enlist 20,000 elementary school-age kids from Tarrant, Dallas, Denton and Collin counties, to participate in the community outreach program, which will culminate with a party for all the participants at Cowboys Stadium.

Daryl Johnston, former Cowboy fullback, is the chairman of SLANT 45 and President George W. Bush and Laura Bush are honorary chairs.

For more information or to register, visit www.slant45.org or call 469-621-8989.

-- Pete Alfano

 

New York-New Jersey not a Super idea

If there is one thing that the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Committee cannot control it is the weather. And all the stockpiled sand in the world won't mask the disappointment if we have an ice storm or if it is unseasonably cold during Super Bowl Week in February, even if Cowboys Stadium has a roof. But why should we worry when the National Football League is supposedly seriously considering awarding the 2014 game to New York-New Jersey in what would be the first Super Bowl to be played in an outdoor stadium at a cold weather site? 

As someone who was born and raised in New York I would nonetheless vote against the Super Bowl being played in the new Meadowlands stadium. And weather is not the No. 1 reason why. First and foremost is the security issue. As the recent Times Square bombing attempt demonstrated, the city remains a prime target for terrorists. In fact, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer said on Meet the Press Sunday that he believes New York is not just a target of terrorists but the target in the U.S. He was commenting on how he believes the city should get even more anti-terrorist funding from the federal government.

Imagine a high profile event like the Super Bowl in the New York-New Jersey region. What would it cost in manpower and money to provide adequate security during Super Bowl Week? What kind of drain would that be on law enforcement in New York and New Jersey, as well as the FBI and Homeland Security?

My nephew is a rookie police officer in New York and he and his partner were the first respondents when the mounted policeman called for backup the evening of the botched Times Square attack. I wouldn't want to see him put at even higher risk because of the Super Bowl. No, we shouldn't shrink from terrorist threats, but we should also be prudent and not make it easier for them either. 

And let's face it, New York doesn't need the tourist traffic. People have heard of it and It does just fine without events like the Super Bowl. It might even keep some people or convention-goers away from the city if the Super Bowl is being played there in February of 2014.

There isalso a weather factor the NFL should consider, but not because of the players. Playoff games are played in all kinds of conditions, from rain to extreme heat and humidity, sub zero temperatures and blinding snow. The players can deal with that. But the NFL should worry about the fans attending the game because as we know, it is not your typical football crowd, but largely a more corporate crowd with plenty of dignitaries and celebs.

How many empty seats would there be if the game time temperature were in the teens? Or if it was snowing or there was a bone-chilling rain? The average February low for New York is 27 degrees; the average high is 40 degrees. A lot of empty seats isn't what the NFL would want the biggest television audience of the year to see.

It's a nice idea having the Super Bowl in the New York-New Jersey area with all the entertainment venues and options. But for practical reasons it just doesn't make sense, even if they put a roof over the new stadium between now and then.

Pete Alfano  

  

You can score Super Bowl tickets -- for the right price

By now, most football fans know that a Super Bowl crowd is not what you find at NFL stadiums during the regular season.

When speaking to a United Way-Arlington luncheon recently, Tara Green, vice president of the North Texas Super Bowl Committee, said that 65 percent of those coming to the game are executive decision-makers.

No, they're not the type to paint their face and dye their hair in their favorite team's colors.

Our colleagues at The Dallas Morning News had a story Saturday reminding fans that the NFL does have a ticket lottery in which 500 average Joes and Jills can win a pair of Super Bowl tickets by entering the random drawing, with the deadline June 1.

That's not the end of hope for fans in North Texas who still have dreams of being inside Cowboys Stadium on Feb. 6 for Super Bowl XLV.

But a word of caution: You better have some reserves in the checking or savings account.

The NFL distributes tickets this way:

• Each participating team gets 17.5 percent.
• The host team gets 5 percent of the tickets.
• Each of the remaining 29 teams in the league get 1.2 percent.
• And the NFL gets the remaining 25.2 percent.

Being enterprising, a number of fans -- customarily season ticket holders for the 32 teams -- sell those tickets for a nice profit.

Years ago, they would take out ads in newspapers and resort to old-fashioned ticket scalping. But now, they go on websites such as eBay, RazorGator and StubHub, and post their tickets for sale.

This practice may be frowned upon by the NFL, but the league can't protest too much because some of its players and coaches with tickets have done the same thing in the past.

When can you make the biggest score? Wait until the end of the NFC and AFC championship games, when the Super Bowl matchup is decided. That's when some well-heeled fans from the teams playing in the Super Bowl will pay a fortune for tickets.

There are published reports of tickets in past Super Bowls selling for $4,000 and more, and perhaps even $10,000.

No, pursuing Super Bowl tickets is not for those with weak knees or who are making only the minimum payment on their credit card balance.

But if you really want to attend the Super Bowl, you don't have to necessarily win the NFL's ticket lottery.

-- Pete Alfano

(If you do want to enter the lottery, here's the info, straight from the NFL)

Entries for the random drawing are accepted between Feb. 1 and June 1 of the year preceding the game in question. All ticket requests must be sent via certified or registered mail. Those selected in the random drawing will have the opportunity to purchase two tickets.

Requests should be sent to:

Super Bowl Random Drawing
P.O. Box 49140
Strongsville, OH 44149-0140

Please note that only one request per address is accepted. All duplicate requests will be disregarded.

Ebby joins forces with North Texas Super Bowl XLV Committee

Metroplex real estate icon Ebby Halliday is celebrating her company's 65th anniversary this year so it seemed only natural that Ebby Halliday, Realtors team with the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Committee as a sponsor and promotional partner in the year-long buildup to the game on Feb. 6, 2011.

In addition to giving away tickets in the Kick-Off Concert Series, the Ebby Halliday Companies will be the title sponsor of the host committee's Century in the Making Pavilion at the 2010 State Fair of Texas. That is where the countdown of the 100 Greatest Moments in North Texas Football History will take place. The results will be based on a months-long public voting campaign. Bill Lively, president of the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Committee, said earlier this week that more than 170,000 votes have already been cast.

    Pete Alfano