As Minneapolis cordons off an area around U.S. Bank Stadium with five miles of chain-link fencing in time for the Feb. 4 Super Bowl, physical barriers play a key role in securing the site of Super Bowl LII and limiting access to ticket holders. But when tens of thousands of fans descend on downtown, welcomed by a free 10-day Super Bowl Live event geared toward inclusion, pushing people away from the action runs contrary to the purpose of the event.
That’s why Nicollet Mall, a recently renovated downtown pedestrian and transit mall lined with shopping and dining, will come to life, all programmed, themed and carefully planned.
“We are excited to utilize Nicollet Mall for Super Bowl Live as it will create a vibrant atmosphere in downtown Minneapolis and be the gateway to all things Super Bowl,” said Michael Howard, spokesperson for the Minnesota Super Bowl Host Committee.
The SB Live event started in Indianapolis in 2012 as a way for the host committee there to celebrate the Super Bowl in downtown. The huge success of the event, tying together the city and the event for an entire week, has continued on, said Jerry Anderson, Populous founder and senior principal, who has worked on live events from Olympics to Super Bowls for decades. Now SB Live happens each year, with each city putting its own spin on the festivities, from location to themes. Minneapolis’ version began Jan. 26 and runs through game day.
Led by the host committee, the NFL’s On Location Experiences and its production company Kreate brought Populous on to help with the planning, event design and programming for the Minneapolis version, which will convert a six-block stretch of Nicollet, a far different model than dropping SB Live in a vacant parking lot.
“Nicollet Mall was chosen over other locations because it is in the heart of the city and if you are going to put on an event for locals, it needs to be in the heart,” says Bobby Sloan, Populous’ project leader. “It made sense despite the challenges it gave us on the design and planning side.”
With 10,000 office workers in adjacent buildings along the pedestrian-heavy mall, the linear feel of the event will take on multiple themes, changing from block to block, day to day and even day to evening, as daytime events favor families and young adult-focused draws come alive at night.
Howard says the event will embrace all things “Bold North,” intentionally including outdoor attractions that highlight winter in Minnesota. From cross-country skiing and fat-tire bike racing across the American Birkebeiner International Bridge, a 200-foot span that’s part of the annual American Birkebeiner cross-country skiing race in Wisconsin, to an outdoor concert series at Ice Mountain on Nicollet Mall and Eighth Street, the space will fill with activations and activities.
Spending more than a year doing outreach “so that we can build an experience where those local businesses can flourish with the opportunity to bring one million visitors to our state,” Howard said, also meant pro¬gramming a space that changed each day to provide dynamic opportunity for visitors to return multiple times.
Anderson said that’s where music becomes important, as does sponsors’ willingness to get creative and change activations daily. Local food, night light shows and pop-up spaces all prove key. “Some activations will only be up for a day or two and will then be gone,” Sloan says. “The pop-up stuff some of the sponsors are doing creates a ‘wow’ factor.”
The linear makeup of the space required “technical planning” to ensure the easy flow of people, designed for 10,000 visitors at a time and as many as 30,000 over the course of a day. SB Live required the team working with the city to deal with bus routes normally on the mall, noise considerations and even the logistical nature of snow clearing, if that comes into play.
As with any major event, security takes a central role in the planning. The host committee has joined with the Minneapolis Police Department as the lead public safety agency, Howard says.
Anderson said that SB Live won’t have a fence surrounding it and that people can come and go freely, but visitors will see a security presence of public safety and law enforcement as appropriate. “You have to put that into the mix as well,” he said.
Jeffrey Miller, the NFL’s former chief of security and current owner of Jeffrey Miller Consulting, said balancing security with fan engagement becomes key in pop-up events. “You want to take all reasonable steps to protect the event and the fans attending without making it too onerous to navigate the process,” he said. “Due to the types of attacks we have witnessed at mass gathering events around the world, planners must consider the inherent vulnerabilities present at each venue location and devise a plan that accounts for the most likely risks that exist. Event plans must separate vehicles and pedestrians, utilizing appropriate barriers that will prevent a vehicle being used as a weapon.”
With a multiblock event such as SB Live, Miller said planners must balance access control without putting strain on area businesses, all while watching for weapons.
James De Meo, founder of Unified Sports & Entertainment Security Consulting, says the numerous challenges in today’s cli¬mate make safeguarding events complex and require proactive measures. Expect to see exterior perimeters and entertainment zones garnering increased securi¬ty attention at multiblock events such as SB Live, he said.
“Chokepoints and bottlenecks are prime targets for a terrorist strike,” De Meo said. “Security and law enforcement will be on the lookout for anything suspicious, out of the ordinary. Threats will be fully entertained and investigated. SB Live will be up for the challenge; they have been preparing for quite some time now.”
As SB Live connects with the heart of downtown within walking distance of U.S. Bank Stadium, expect the unique aspects of celebrating the Bold North in downtown Minneapolis’ Nicollet Mall to bring with it a fresh perspective on Super Bowl week.