While the Denver Broncos are many other franchises are moving toward getting better and contending in 2008, for some employees of a number of teams, the season won’t be over until the day after the Super Bowl.
I am one of those, and while I do not wish to seem like I am walking the dog, I thought it might be interesting to share a couple of things that happen behind the scenes.
The Super Bowl is the largest non-Olympic sporting event ever put on in the world, in terms of interest, particularly from the media overall and television in particular.
Everyone knows that it is televised internationally, and the ten most watched TV shows in American history, no matter how the standard is skewed, always included at least seven or eight Super Bowl games in that list–sometimes more.
Because it is so large, it is just too much for the NFL New York employees to handle all by themselves, even though they work from about seven a.m. until about eleven p.m. for the three weeks leading up to the game. So, they import veterans in various positions from some of the teams.
I have been fortunate to work a number of Super Bowls in this capacity, and the NFL has asked me to do so again for Super Bowl XLII this year. In fact, including the games in which I worked as the head of the Broncos’ PR efforts, I have worked every Super Bowl game (except for a year in which they asked me to handle the Pro Bowl instead) since Super Bowl XXXIII in Tampa.
So this is the 25th consecutive season in which I will have worked the Super Bowl beyond as a part of the NFL PR staff, and this is the 15th in which the NFL has asked me to be a co-captain of the media effort (Gary Wright of the Seahawks and Scott Berchtold of the Buffalo Bills are the others, with Gary in command), and in my case I am in charge of facilities at the NFL media center.
The NFL media center is gigantic by any standrad, basically a convention center that for an eight-day period is the focal point of press operations, in terms of news releases, press conferences, radio shows, TV shows, and a number of other events that lead to a true circus-like atmosphere.
But it takes a long time to set this up, beginning with drawings by architects many months before the event, and then involving a number of individuals (ourselves, and many, many others) descending on the host city and that city’s convention center the week before everybody else gets there, with the goal being to get everything set up before the media arrive.
It is a big operation, and one that I am honored to be asked to participate in.
I’ll have more details in future blogs as to what actually happens each day at Super Bowl XLII. Our advance party gets there 12 days before the event, and gets busy right away.
As possible, I’ll try to share some details on this. It might be very boring to some, but there is a great deal that happens behind the scenes before the public portion of any event ever takes place.
Tags: Media, Super Bowl
It sounds like fun. This is no time for sour grapes. No, this wasn’t the Broncos’ season, but ’08 will be much better for us. Thanks for your efforts!
wow, that’s quit an honor and talk about a long run! congrats and thanks for sharing that with us.
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It would be nice if there could be a tribute to the players that were lost, you will represent us well.
All the Super Bowl media details would be very interesting to read about. I always like to know what goes on behind the scenes and it certainly would not be boring to read.
Touching on what someone else said, I was surprised there was nothing public at the stadium for fans to remember and honor Williams and Nash. I know a lot of work and effort has been focused on the Teen Center and that is fantastic. But I thought there would be somewhere or something at Invesco people could go see and remember our fallen Broncos.
I would have to disagree about the superbowl being the largest, non olympic sporting event. The reason is that the World Cup is the largest sporting event. It is even larger than the Olympics because about a billion people watch the the finals in the world cup. But other than that great post.