Super Bowl 2011 / Cowboys Stadium

Programs for kids play a 'Super' role in North Texas

The North Texas Super Bowl Host Committee's SLANT 45 initiative has been well received by school districts in the region and the National Football League. But the NFL also has youth programs of its own that are associated with the Super Bowl and they will be implemented during the course of the year.

One program is called Play 60 Challenge in which kids are encouraged to get 60 minutes of exercise every day for four weeks. The host committee is planning to incorporate SLANT 45 -- the program that encourages elementary school kids to form teams and give back to their community -- with the Play 60 Challenge.

The NFL is also considering a One World program a curriculum in which fifth grade students from eight culturally diverse North Texas schools become pen pals and learn about one another. Another program is Super Kids, Super Sharing, in which kids in the Arlington School District will donate used sports equipment for those less fortunate.

The Community Hero Art Exhibition will involve 24 school districts in North Texas. The objective is to stimulate kids to think creatively and express themselves through various art forms such as painting and poetry. Their work will be professionally curated and put on exhibition at the North Park Mall in Arlington, Terminal D at D/FW Airport and the Fort Worth Science and History Museum. The program will be launched in December.

And details are being finalized for the site of the NFL's Youth Education Towns (YET) initiative, the educational and recreation centers built in host cities and regions as a legacy of the Super Bowl.

Pete Alfano

  

Tickets go on sale Saturday for Tim McGraw, Super Bowl concert

Tickets go on sale starting at 10 a.m. Saturday for XLV Countdown Live From Cowboys Stadium, featuring Tim McGraw and Van Cliburn.

The event, which will include archival footage from NFL Films of the Cowboys' Super Bowl history, is the final performance in the Super Bowl Host Committee's concert series. 

Most tickets are $25 and can be purchased at www.ticketmaster.com or by calling 800-745-3000.

The event will be Friday, Sept. 10, at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington. A tribute to Emmitt Smith, the Cowboys' newest Hall-of-Famer, is also on the agenda.

Let's just say the massive JerryVision scoreboard will be a huge part of the attraction.

Super Bowl Environmental Program continues to Groh

We had to ask. It was the one burning question that remained after the tree planting ceremony in Arlington that kicked off the Super Bowl XLV Environmental Program Thursday. "So Jack Groh, when did the NFL make you change your name?"

Groh, who oversees the league's environmental initiatives, smiled and said he has been teased on occasion that about his last name, which of course is pronounced Grow. He said that although it is not official, the North Texas Super Bowl Host Committee is thinking of naming the tree planting program "Super Grow XLV."  I wouldn't mind that," Groh said, "but I imagine I'd hear about it."

Groh said that the environmental program is implemented for special events like the Super Bowl. The owners have not yet uniformly endorsed a league-run program for all the teams. But he said the project is gaining momentum and that half the 32 teams are on board. What's more, individual teams have their own "green" projects that are not overseen by the NFL.

"We think the program not only has an environmental impact, but a cost-value impact," Groh said, specifically about recycling and other conservation initiatives. "We can't quantify the savings in the air quality, but we know that if you recycle, you can save from $5,000 to $15,000. That may not be a big amount for a Super Bowl but for a contractor, saving $5,000 is important. For instance, when you recycle you don;t have to pay a tipping fee, which you do when you dump at a dump site."

Going green, he said, can help you save some green.    

Pete Alfano

Plans on schedule for Super Bowl XLV in North Texas

Wednesday is Day 3 of the NFL's planning visit to North Texas and according to Frank Supovitz, who oversees event planning for the league, everything is on schedule for Super Bowl XLV at Cowboys Stadium. The slogan, according to Supovitz is that it's "not only bigger in Texas but better."

Part of the operating plans for the Super Bowl is making some physical changes in the stadium, including installation of temporary seating. Thus far, Supovitz doesn't know what the capacity for the game will be, although it will probably not reach the magic 100,000 number.

The new seating locations, he said, are custom made and have to be up to NFL standards. He also said that the league is "entranced" by the scoreboard that has gotten so much attention and plans to utilize it to the fullest for the game. The NFL runs the scoreboard during the game and will use the full screen for replays.

The construction inside the stadium will be unobtrusive during the season but if the Cowboys reach the NFC championship game and have home field advantage, then some of the construction and security changes will be in place. "Some things will be in place 60 to 80 days before the Super Bowl," Supovitz said. "The security barriers might be installed but not activated. 

He added that the NFL has been impressed by the North Texas Super Bowl Host Committee's initiatives such as the Slant 45 elementary school outreach program and Concert Series. "It's been very ambitious," he said. "It's very clear that the North Texas Super Bowl wants to leave a legacy that is more than just an economic impact, but to change how the region works together." 

Pete Alfano

A year without the Super Bowl?

With the Pro Bowl being scheduled a week earlier in Hawaii, Super Bowl XLV at Cowboys Stadium on Feb. 6 will be the last game of the NFL season. But a sobering thought is that it could be the last NFL game for more than a year.

With negotiations between the owners and National Football League Players Association getting more contentious, the possibility of a strike or lockout in 2011 is growing more real even though there is still plenty of time for an agreement to be reached. And that means North Texas may have had its first Super Bowl just before the owners and players set out to kill the golden goose.

Why this ominous note? Well, earlier this week DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the NFLPA, initiated legal action against the league saying that the $4 billion that owners are guaranteed in 2011 whether or not any games are played is being used unfairly as leverage against the players in negotiations. On the surface it looks like the owners can pocket an awful lot of money without having any overhead or salaries to pay for a year while they play hard ball with the players, but in this competitive age of entertainment, why would anyone want to risk alienating the fan base and mass popularity of the NFL by canceling the 2011 season? 

The threat of a work stoppage must be giving the host committee in Indianapolis pause as it lays the groundwork for Super Bowl XLVI, which follows North Texas. New Orleans will host is 10th Super Bowl in 2013 and New York-New Jersey host the Super Bowl in 2014.

What would happen if there is no 2011 season and Super Bowl in Indianapolis? We asked Brian McCarthy, a spokesman for the NFL, and Frank Supovitz, vice president of events, but they weren't saying. We did glean, however, that the matter probably has come up and commissioner Roger Goodell has already decided on a Plan B.

Would the host cities simply have the game a year later, which would keep the order intact? Or would the NFL bypass Indianapolis (Lucas Oil Stadium, photo below) and give that city the Super Bowl in 2015, which has not been awarded yet.

But even some owners don't want it to come to that. "As long as the players and owners keep talking there will be a deal," said Steve Tisch, co-owner of the Giants after being awarded the 2014 Super Bowl at the recent NFL meetings in Irving. "We want this thing in a good place."   

Pete Alfano   

  

  

  

Super Bowl not 'foreign' for volunteer applicants

The North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee's goal is to recruit 10,000 volunteers for the various Super Bowl-related functions in February.

Thus far, the volunteer drive is off to a fast start, with just over 4,000 people having gone online and completing the "seven rounds" of registration.

Amanda Whitelaw, who oversees the volunteer program for the host committee, had a few other interesting facts during a conference call Wednesday.

Whitelaw said that those who have signed up thus far represent 31 states and five foreign countries -- Canada, Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Japan and El Salvador.

Also, nine languages are spoken by the diversified band of volunteers. She said that 100 have worked at previous Super Bowls.

Locally, 35 percent of the volunteer applicants are from Tarrant County; 31 percent from Dallas County.

Super Bowl XLV, which will be played at Cowboys Stadium on Feb. 6, will have the biggest volunteer corps in history.

They will help out at a variety of venues, with the three most prominent being the NFL Experience, which will be at the Convention Center in Dallas; airport greeters; and hotel welcome desks.

Volunteers are reminded that they will not be working inside the stadium on game day.

All applicants will also be subjected to a background check that is performed by the FBI and other law- enforcement agencies for the National Football League.

The deadline for applying to be a volunteer is in September. 

-- Pete Alfano

I-30 will be renamed Tom Landry Super Bowl Highway

A 30-mile stretch of Interstate 30 between Fort Worth and Dallas will be officially renamed "Tom Landry Super Bowl Highway" in a ceremony at Cotton Bowl Stadium on Tuesday, June 15. The stretch of highway, already called "Tom Landry Highway" in honor of the legendary Dallas Cowboys coach, will have the Super Bowl designation to commemorate Super Bowl XLV, which will be played at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington on Feb. 6. 

Alicia Landry, wife of the late coach, will be at the ceremony with members of the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee. The highway will revert to Tom Landry Highway after the Super Bowl. The announcement will occur during a week when NFL officials will be in North Texas in a regularly scheduled planning and production meeting in preparation for Super Bowl XLV.

Pete Alfano  

West and Harris to chair Council of Legislators for Super Bowl XLV

One of the keynotes of the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Committee is transparency. It is the goal of committee president Bill Lively to keep everyone informed about preparations for the Super Bowl at Cowboys Stadium Feb. 6. To that end the committee has enlisted the support of Austin lawmakers to form the Council of State Legislators, who will be emissaries for the host committee as well as keep the state representatives and senators up to speed on all aspects of the Super Bowl.

Lively and Roger Staubauch, chairman of the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Committee, have confirmed that state Sen. Chris Harris will join Sen. Royce West as co-chairmen of the council, which is comprised of Texas House and Senate members representing districts in the North Texas counties of Tarrant, Dallas, Collin and Denton.

The council, which has 34 members, will also assist the host committee in recruiting volunteers for Super Bowl XLV and participating in the speaker's bureau. "It is likely that no event in the region's history will be as transformative as will Super Bowl XLV," Harris said in a press release issued by the host committee."

Added West: "...The game's most important legacy will be in the ways in which it unified the region through historic collaborations among North Texas cities, companies, schools and organizations."

The host committee briefed council members in a meeting in May at Cowboys Stadium.

Pete Alfano

      

Sen. Chris Harris  and    Sen. Royce West   

Sen. Cornyn gets a Super Bowl security briefing

Texas Sen. John Cornyn was in Arlington on Thursday for a briefing about Super Bowl security from Arlington Police Chief Theron Bowman.

Here are some photos from the scene:

(Bomb-sniffing dogs, Brickman and Jason, and a bomb-sniffing robot)

(At bottom right, Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck, left, with Sen. Cornyn)

-- Photos by Pete Alfano

Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission getting involved with Super Bowl XLV

Beer commercials are popular during sports events, especially the Super Bowl. And commercials have become more elaborate -- witness the Bud Bowl. But irresponsible drinking of alcoholic beverages can result in tragic consequences too. So the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission is getting involved with Super Bowl XLV with the objective of making sure the week-long party in early February to ensure public safety with all the festivities that will occur.

The TABC has established a Super Bowl Committee and is inviting members of the alcoholic beverage industry and community to participate. The first meeting is Thursday, June 3, in Grand Prairie and it will be chaired by Dr. Steve Weinberg, TABC Commissioner. The members of the alcoholic beverage industry will work with representatives of North Texas law enforcement agencies and local governments to ensure the safety of local residents and visitors to Super Bowl XLV.

"The committee's goal will be to identify public safety and industry marketing concerns up front," Joel Moreno, chief of field operations, said in a statement, "so that we can develop a plan of action that benefits the local economy, while making public safety the highest priority." 

As regulator of the industry TABC wants to impress upon hotels and restaurants the importance that their staffs are well versed in how to serve Super Bowl visitors. "A lot of training will be done," Moreno said Wednesday. "We want to make sure they know about underage drinking, over-consumption and after hours drinking. We'll be working closely with law enforcement in all the local governments."

Moreno added that the key is that the industry follow all the rules. "The main thing is voluntary compliance," he said. "We don't want to ruin anyone's party. We want to showcase Texas."   

Pete Alfano