University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. will host the Pro Bowl and Super Bowl XLIX on back-to-back weekends.
Like the 48 previous Super Bowls before it, Super Bowl XLIX to be played on Sunday, Feb. 1 at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., will have the trained eye of millions watching the game from all corners of the world as the New England Patriots square off against the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks.
But like only two prior Super Bowls, the stadium will also host the NFL’s Pro Bowl this Sunday, making it the third city that has hosted both the Pro Bowl and the Super Bowl the same year and just one week apart.
As always, the Super Bowl is about so much more than the game for the hundreds of thousands who flock to the host city to enjoy a multitude of ancillary events before, during and after the game. There is the NFL Experience, Verizon Super Bowl Central, concerts, Waste Management Open Golf Tournament, nonstop parties and even an opportunity for fans to spend $28.50 to attend Super Bowl Media Day at the Talking Stick Resort Arena (formerly US Airways Center).
It can all result in sensory overload for those with big stakes in ensuring a seamless Super Bowl, but the folks in Phoenix are ready after having hosted the Super Bowl in 2008.
“The overall Super Bowl and its complexity have grown (since 2008) a lot,” said Peter Sullivan, general manager and regional vice president of the Global Spectrum-managed University of Phoenix Stadium. “Hosting the Pro Bowl one week before the Super Bowl is probably the biggest change for us. Instead of one very large international football game we have two very large football games that we’re preparing for and with the various partners of the NFL.”
Coordination
Sullivan said that the NFL began move-in on Jan. 2 to start preparations and that the venue’s role has been to help coordinate, liaise and facilitate the movement and change that has to occur within the venue along with supporting the NFL and their various subcontractors.
As the stadium is the only one in North America with a retractable roof and retractable field, teamwork among the operations staff and field crew for the NFL is paramount.
“There is a lot of coordination over the next two weeks but we’ve had a lot of coordination since Jan. 2 and quite frankly before that with many meetings,” Sullivan said.
“Phoenix has hosted a Super Bowl before so they are pros at handling this spectacular event,” said Brad Mayne, president/CEO of MetLife Stadium, which hosted last year’s Super Bowl.
Mayne attended the Super Bowl at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans the year before his venue got the big game, and he noted that several representatives from this year’s site were at his venue last year to observe and participate.
“We’ve actually gone to the last three Super Bowls and sent a contingent of operational and event people,” Sullivan said. “We want to see how they do things, to ask questions, to observe and quite honestly to participate. We’ve had a number of people participate in various segments and areas within the setup of the game itself, whether it is the fan plaza, entry pavilions, the field itself. We’ve had people on our staff play some key roles in those different areas working with different subcontractors that help put the event on.”
Peter O'Reilly, Sr. VP Events for the NFL, said that teamwork has been key, especially with two major events coming up.
"Our partnership with the Arizona Cardinals and University of Phoenix Stadium has been tremendous during the lead-up to Super Bowl XLIX and as we now count down to both the Pro Bowl and the Super Bowl. It is a first-class facility and a first-class team, and we couldn't be more excited for the game days."
Going Pro
As Sullivan noted, the Valley of the Sun gets to show off for two weeks rather than one with the Pro Bowl also in town.
University of Phoenix Stadium hosted the Super Bowl in 2008 between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots.
“People are going to have another opportunity to come to our great city and to experience the building and the best in the NFL and the Pro Bowl game,” he said. “We look at it as an honor to be able to host that as well and to help present it along with the NFL.”
With record numbers of people coming in over the next two weeks, public transit is vital to get from one location to the other, including an available Light Rail service that did not exist in 2008.
“The City, in conjunction with Valley Metro, has added several routes to the Light Rail and bus lines going in and out of Downtown Phoenix to take passengers to surrounding areas, including directly to the game in Glendale,” said Tammy Vo, Marketing and Communications manager, public information office, City of Phoenix.
Other venues around town will also be on display with the Phoenix Convention Center hosting the NFL Experience, Talking Stick Resort Arena hosting Super Bowl Media Day and a 12-block area in Downtown Phoenix the hub for the free, family-friendly, football-themed fan campus known as Verizon Super Bowl Central to feature an autograph stage, concert stage, local food trucks, beer and wine gardens, network broadcast stages and Super Bowl Roman numerals. The Taste of the NFL is a strolling food and wine event held on the eve of the game at WestWorld of Scottsdale.
The city has been coordinating the location and timing of street closures to allow construction while providing tenants of buildings within the space access for parking and deliveries, Vo said. In all, the City issued an overall event permit, plus the City’s Planning and Development Department and the Fire Department will be issuing 40-50 separate permits for the various structures and assemblies in Super Bowl Central. Most involve the review of engineered plans, followed by inspections of each one as it is constructed.
“The city put together a team with representatives from many departments and outside agencies to work with the Host Committee and Party Planners West and have been meeting every other week for the last four months to put it all together,” Vo said.
“We have worked closely with multiple partners including the NFL, Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee, Downtown Phoenix Partnership, Phoenix Police & Fire Depts., Public Works and others to coordinate event logistics, public safety, food and beverage service and other essential functions to ensure a successful event,” added Cynthia Weaver, public information officer for community and economic development and Phoenix Convention Center.
The convention center is home to the wildly successful NFL Experience, which is expected to attract more than 200,000 attendees throughout the entire event that runs from Jan. 24-Feb. 1. The event will feature more than 500,000 square feet or nine football fields of interactive games, displays, autograph stages and other attractions and will showcase the venue to visitors from around the world.
The convention center’s technology contractor, Smart City Networks, recently completed a scheduled Distributed Antennae System upgrade prior to the Super Bowl. The system will increase wireless capacity, signal strengths and double data rates.
As with her stadium counterparts, Weaver said her team went to the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans in 2013 to review operations for their NFL Experience to prepare for the 2015 event in Phoenix. The venue began its planning and preparations for Super Bowl events as soon as Arizona earned the bid in 2011.
Tech Techniques
Scott Norton, director of Marketing and Public Relations at University of Phoenix Stadium, said that the social media boom has had an impact with how the stadium prepares for the Super Bowl.
“We and the NFL are getting more and more requests to capture video,” he said. “Everyone, it seems, is a reporter these days. Who knows what people are going to post and so forth? We just have to understand the technology that is out there and be able to accommodate folks and be there on the edge of it ... that people are getting the content they want and need and working closely with the entities to give that access.”
University of Phoenix Stadium hosted the 2011 BCS National Championship game.
John Drum, vice president of stadium Operations, said that the new technology now inside the stadium is ready for the social media onslaught about to happen.
“The Arizona Cardinals teamed up with CDW Technologies to provide state-of-the-art networking, wireless and computing technology at University of Phoenix Stadium,” he said. “CDW’s technology overhaul includes a new Cisco-based network for pervasive wireless throughout the stadium seating areas and concourses, providing guests with reliable, secure access on game days. This partnership has resulted in University of Phoenix Stadium becoming one of the NFL’s most technologically advanced facilities, demonstrating the ever-expanding role of IT in major sports venues.
“In addition, University of Phoenix Stadium has a Distributed Antenna System (DAS) to provide outstanding cellular coverage for all ticket holders. With the completion of a major upgrade, the DAS will also provide improved signal strength on the stadium plaza.”
Indeed, technology is another huge change from when the city last hosted a Super Bowl seven years ago, thanks largely to the world of mobile devices, Wi-Fi and wireless communications.
“If you don’t have the broadband or Wi-Fi capability to keep up with when the public comes en masse to your building, you have a problem,” Sullivan said. “I applaud the Cardinals for stepping up and implementing massive upgrades in the stadium’s Wi-Fi system and wireless capabilities.”
Sullivan noted other upgrades including 200 additional security cameras and the stadium being the first in the league to install LED sports lighting with instant on and off strike capabilities that will help at halftime and other times.
“It is also a very green initiative in that we replaced 750 metal halides with about 311 LEDs,” he said. “Right there alone you have tremendous savings in terms of power consumption and the life span is significantly longer. They present less heat and in our environment when we get into the summer months that means a lot. The LEDs don’t generate significant heat so the attack on our HVAC system will be significantly less. We’ve just got a bunch of things that over the last two to three years have been major upgrades to the facility.”
“There are a lot of moving parts at this event,” said Fred Corsi, stadium executive director of Operations. “It’s one gigantic entity with a bunch of subcontractors doing different kinds of work. Just to move the field in and out, you have to coordinate with each of the different partners to make sure they’re all on board. Normally all I have to do is talk to the Cardinals and our operations department and we’re set to go.”
“With a Super Bowl, we talk with NBC, ESPN, the halftime show folks, different contractors, field guys, everybody doing all the work. There’s just a multitude of other people just to get that field moved in, which for different purposes we will be doing six times.”
By the Numbers
As for the numbers that always interest people, Super Bowl XLIX is expected to bring in an estimated $500 million in economic impact to the state with an estimated 100,000 guests coming to be part of the event. More than one million people are expected to participate in the Verizon Super Bowl Central, and 6,000 media personnel are expected from across the globe. More than 10,000 volunteers are working under the guidance of the Host Committee to make the city shine before the world.
The investment to host a Super Bowl is huge, but with numbers that show 11.4 million watched last year’s game, one well worth it.
“The Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee is responsible for raising $30 million to host the game,” Weaver said. “In addition, the City of Phoenix has set aside $1 million for staff overtime costs (primarily for public safety) and the exposure is invaluable.
“Hosting the Super Bowl allows our destination to become the center of world-wide attention for weeks leading up to the big game. The exposure puts Arizona in the spotlight to showcase the local economy, culture, cuisine and things to do, which will enhance tourism and business development.”
Some may even stay in Arizona.
“I grew up in the Northeast,” Sullivan said. “This is pretty easy to sell, especially in January and February. People are going to experience the city and the region who may not have done so before. They are going to say, ‘I’m going to visit Arizona more,’ or just as likely, ‘I might put some roots down.’”
Interviewed for this article: Fred Corsi, (623) 433-7115; John Drum, (623) 433-7733; Brad Mayne, (201) 559-1565; Scott Norton, (523) 433-7108; Peter O'Reilly, (212) 450-2404; Peter Sullivan, (623) 433-7105; Tammy Vo, (602) 261-8980; Cynthia Weaver, (602) 534-7633