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Tampa Has A Lot Riding On This Game

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By BAIRD HELGESON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 3, 2008

Updated: 02/06/2008 12:58 pm

Sports enthusiasts were surprised when the National Football League chose Tampa to host the 1984 Super Bowl. Pro football's championship game regularly rotated between much larger cities with ample hotel space, restaurants and attractions.

Barbara Casey, a Tampa Sports Authority spokeswoman who helps coordinate the local Super Bowl effort, remembers having to explain to people from out of state that she was from Tampa - Florida.

"People would call and insist on staying in Tampa Bay," said Casey, imagining a flotilla of visitors bobbing in the Bay.

Not any longer.

The Super Bowl has become a regular visitor to Tampa, which hosted games in 1984, 1991 and 2001. Tampa will host its fourth - Super Bowl XLIII - on Feb. 1. Only the Miami area, New Orleans and the Los Angeles area have hosted it more times.

"People know Tampa now," said Greg Aiello, an NFL vice president. "Back in the 1980s, Tampa was a surprise. It was the underdog. Now it's a regular contender."
Tampa has a lot at stake to ensure the Super Bowl is a success.

If things go smoothly, Tampa will retain its status among the nation's top-tier Super Bowl destinations. But if traffic snarls or attractions disappoint, Tampa's reputation could be tarnished.

"It can make you, but it can break you, too," said Larry Alexander, president and chief executive officer of the Detroit Metro Convention and Visitor's Bureau.

Michigan hosted its first Super Bowl in 1982, which was a game remembered more for a paralyzing snow and ice storm than for quarterback Joe Montana's effort leading the San Francisco 49ers past the Cincinnati Bengals.

The snow was at least partially to blame for it taking 24 years for Michigan to land another Super Bowl, which it hosted in 2006. Alexander said the area benefited from the NFL's habit of awarding Super Bowls to communities that build new stadiums. Ford Field replaced the Pontiac Silverdome as the Detroit Lions' home field in 2002.

"You're talking about hosting the biggest sporting event in the world, and the eyes of the world are on you," Alexander said. "It's a lot of pressure."

The Tampa Bay Super Bowl Host Committee made a lot of promises to persuade NFL team owners to bring the game here again.

Most notably, the committee offered $12 million to offset league costs, about double what it offered in 2001. Of that, up to $4 million will be taxpayer money, including a state grant and tourism tax money from Hillsborough and Pinellas counties. The remaining $8 million will be raised through corporate sponsors and private donations.

The NFL will require 20,000 hotel rooms from St. Petersburg to Orlando and every available rental car, limousine and taxi in the area. Several venues such as The Florida Aquarium, Tampa Theatre and the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center agreed not to book events during Super Bowl weekend without checking with the NFL to see whether it wants to rent the facility for a party.

The committee even promised every NFL team tickets to Busch Gardens during the weekend, an amenity widely seen as a key reason NFL team owners chose Tampa over Atlanta for 2009.

In exchange, pro football's biggest game is expected to bring more than 100,000 people to the area, generating what boosters say will be at least $300 million in economic impact. Perhaps more importantly, Tampa will again seize the nation's attention for a week in late January and early February.
"If you show you can deliver, you can earn the respect of the NFL," said Hillsborough County Commissioner Jim Norman, who helped make the successful Super Bowl pitch to team owners. "We know how to put on a show. As a result, we've gained the respect of the NFL."

Growing Together

In some ways, Tampa's emergence from a scruffy port city to a compelling tourist destination has matched the growth of the Super Bowl and the increased demands placed on a host city.

In 1984, the NFL relied on hotel rooms and attractions in Orlando when it agreed to bring the Super Bowl to Tampa.

Jim Steeg, who organized Super Bowls for 26 years, recalled that by game day Tampa had just one major hotel downtown, the Hyatt Regency.

The hotel was under construction leading up to the game. Steeg recalled inspecting the building in a dusty construction elevator and feeling a sense of dread as he realized it might not be completed in time.

"It was pretty scary," said Steeg, now an executive with the San Diego Chargers.

Along with inadequate hotel space, Tampa didn't have a suitable convention center or many venues for large parties.

At one point in 1984, the NFL considered loading executives, team owners and officials on a train and traveling to Epcot in Orlando for the big Friday night party.
Tricky logistics were part of the reason the NFL scrapped the idea, Steeg said. Instead, the NFL held a circus-themed party at the Florida State Fairgrounds, capitalizing on circus workers who wintered in the area.

Tampa has grown dramatically since then, and it relied less on the amenities of Orlando to woo the NFL's top game.

Since 2001, the Channel District, International Plaza and Bay Street opened. Two new hotels - Embassy Suites and Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel & Marina - opened across from Harbour Island, adding 1,077 rooms.

The Hotels

Tampa still can't compete with larger cities in the number of upscale hotel rooms.

The NFL has reserved about 20,000 rooms from St. Petersburg to Orlando to accommodate league and franchise officials, guests, the media, and participating teams.

Hillsborough County will provide the NFL with 7,800 of its 21,500 hotel rooms; Pinellas, 3,600 of its 30,500 rooms; and the Orlando area, 8,700 rooms out of more than 100,000 rooms available.

"We have less than 12,000 rooms blocked in Pinellas and Hillsborough, so we have lots of availability for the fans," said Norwood Smith, vice president of sales for Tampa Bay & Co., Hillsborough's visitors bureau.

Local hotel managers will be prepared for the flurry of last-minute bookings as the two winning teams emerge from the playoffs.

"Between 35,000 to 45,000 visitors have made plans for the Super Bowl here in the past with about two weeks' notice," said Reid Sigmon, executive director of the host committee.

The City

Super Bowl 2009 will arrive before most of the city's new cultural and tourist attractions are ready. Rather than hanging out in a new waterfront park or viewing an exhibit at the new art museum, tourists mostly will see construction.

The new Curtis Hixon Park and Tampa Museum of Art won't be ready. The existing museum is slated for demolition this month, and the new museum isn't scheduled to open until late 2009.

And even the Malcolm Glazer family, owners of the Buccaneers, can't speed up construction on the Glazer Children's Museum. It is scheduled to open in late 2009.

"It's not a bad thing for people coming in for Super Bowl to see progress and construction," said Santiago Corrada, the city's neighborhood services administrator.

Seven segments of the Riverwalk are expected to be complete, including pieces at Cotanchobee Park and the Platt Street Bridge.

And if all goes as planned, the new Tampa Bay History Center will be open.

"Everybody involved recognizes the importance of being open at that point," said C.J. Roberts, the center's chief executive. "That's really a motivator."
The Roads

Two of the area's biggest road projects still will be under construction when the Super Bowl hits Tampa.

The Interstate 275 project from Himes Avenue to the Hillsborough River won't be finished until 2010.
The good news is the Ashley Drive exit should be closed and reopened well before the Super Bowl. The Scott Street exit, however, likely will be closed, said John McShaffrey, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Transportation.

The five-year Tampa Airport Interchange Project also will remain under construction during the Super Bowl. The FDOT is looking at ways to accelerate some of the construction and eliminate lane closures during the week before the game.

"We don't want to do anything to deter event organizers from not coming back," McShaffrey said.

The city will develop a traffic plan, which could include detours and street closures.

Tampa residents might remember clogged streets downtown the weekend of the last Super Bowl.
Traffic is a problem in every community that hosts the game, said Steeg, the former Super Bowl organizer.

Tampa residents seem to dramatize the problem more than others, he said.

Steeg remembered driving around Tampa the Monday before the game and hearing a radio announcer complain about Super Bowl visitors clogging the roadways.

"There wasn't anybody here yet," he said. "In Tampa, it's almost mythological."

The Security

The biggest change for Super Bowl attendees and fans wanting to be close to the action will be the security perimeter around Raymond James Stadium, Sigmon said.

Tampa hosted the last Super Bowl before the Sept. 11 attacks, which resulted in dramatically beefed-up security at large sporting events.

Regular Super Bowl attendees won't notice a difference from recent years, but locals might be surprised by the checkpoints and pat-downs, Sigmon said. Blimps could be grounded on game day. At last year's Super Bowl in Miami, the Federal Aviation Administration allowed only aircraft from the military, law enforcement and hospitals within 10 miles of Dolphin Stadium.

In April, the Tampa Police Department began planning for the Super Bowl. The city will coordinate with other law enforcement agencies, including the sheriff's office and U.S. Coast Guard.

Tampa police Maj. John Bennett is determining how many officers will be needed. And the Tampa Sports Authority, which runs Raymond James Stadium, will hire several dozen paramedics to be stationed inside the facility.

Off-duty paramedics likely will be on hand at concerts, private parties and for the NFL Experience, an interactive attraction where fans can kick a field goal, play video games, get autographs and see what is billed as the largest football card show in the world.

The Stadium

The NFL gets all the profit from ticket sales, concessions and merchandise sales during the game. The league won't reveal revenue from the game, but filling a 70,000-seat stadium at this year's least-expensive ticket price of $700 would bring in $49 million. That doesn't include revenue from the 98 luxury suites in Raymond James Stadium the NFL will control for the game.

The league would make an additional $1.4 million if every attendee spends $20 on hot dogs, soda and beer.

The league requires 30,000 parking spaces at or near the stadium, but some of those are for the 1 million-square-foot NFL Experience.

The Tampa Sports Authority also turns over control of video boards and signage to the NFL. Only permanent advertising will remain in the stadium during the game.

Stadium workers will remove almost all things Buccaneer for the big day.

The 103-foot-long pirate ship replica, the stadium's most notable feature, could be used by television networks. Broadcasters took over the ship during the 2001 Super Bowl.

Workers will add about 7,500 seats to guarantee the stadium surpasses the NFL's requirement of 70,000 seats for the game.

In 2001, about 2,500 seats replaced the tiki hut and dock on the north end of the stadium, near the pirate ship. About 3,800 seats replaced picnic tables and palms over the south end zone.

Raymond James officials will have about 5,200 staff members on hand for concessions, tickets and security during the game, more than double the number for a regular home game.

The NFL will replace the Bucs' playing field with 100,000 square feet of new Bermuda grass, paid by the host community.

The league will use the roughly 100,000 square feet of undeveloped space in the stadium to build media rooms and areas for journalists to conduct interviews.

Super Bowl organizers expect 3,400 journalists to attend the game, including live broadcasts from networks such as ESPN, NBC and FOX Sports Net. In 2001, just ESPN had regular live broadcasts during the week.

The Local Experience

If you're new to the area and wonder what Super Bowl week is like in Tampa, here's the short answer:

It depends on where you live and who you know.

If you never go south of Busch Boulevard, the whole week could pass without much notice. And if you don't know someone who knows someone who can get you into, say, the Maxim magazine party, you should probably forget it.

The Super Bowl is an event that, even for people in the host city, happens primarily on television and in the media.

Expect to hear stories about Super Bowl parties. Some of the parties held in 2001 included those hosted by Playboy, ESPN and Maxim. Sports "Super Agent" Leigh Steinberg threw a party at Busch Gardens. There was a Gridiron Glamour Fashion Show featuring celebrities. There was also a party with a video game version of the Super Bowl. A media party at The Florida Aquarium featured the rock band the B-52s.

But here's the deal: Unless you have an invite, you can't get in.

Fans can get into some events for a price. Back in 2001, the NFL Players Party cost $40 and allowed fans to mingle with football stars. But the big stars were huddled in an inaccessible area on the fourth floor at the Cuban Club in Ybor City, and security didn't allow people in until 11 p.m. Many were not happy.

Taking It To The Streets

Ybor City and the Channel District could be the hot party tickets for Super Bowl 2009.

The Super Bowl's local liaison, Krista Soroka, said she's not sure where events will be.

She's canvassing restaurants, social venues such as Ybor City's Cuban Club, and hotels to see what's available. The NFL is looking at parking lots where outdoor parties could be.

Chuck Jamieson, manager of Green Iguana Bar & Grill in Ybor City, said that when the Super Bowl combined with Gasparilla in 2001, it was "awesome for business. It was the best run we ever had."

Next year, the Super Bowl will fall between the biggest Gasparilla events: The Children's Parade will be the week before the game; the invasion the week after.

Hot Tickets

Very few local football fans are likely to find a ticket to the game. Two things are working against them: availability and cost.

The NFL allows each of the two teams in the game to buy 17.5 percent of the tickets, or roughly 12,225 tickets each. The host team can buy 5 percent of the tickets, about 3,500 tickets. The owners of the other 29 teams each can buy 1.2 percent of the tickets, or 840 tickets. The NFL gets the rest.

The next obstacle is cost.

The NFL has not released ticket prices for next year's game, but the league is charging $700 and $900 for tickets to today's game in Glendale, Ariz.

That's about double the cost when Tampa hosted in 2001.

Stubhub.com, a Web site that resells concert and game tickets, offered tickets last month for today's Super Bowl for as much as $18,500.

The last hope for fans is the annual ticket raffle. For details, check: www.tampabaysuperbowl.com.

The Halftime Show

It's not too early to wonder about possible halftime entertainment.

Tampa's last Super Bowl included MTV's first halftime production, which featured a cast of then-hot pop stars helping Aerosmith perform "Walk This Way."

Three Super Bowls later, a millisecond-long glimpse of Janet Jackson's almost-bare breast spawned congressional hearings, huge fines and a rethink on the whole concept of "edgy" halftime shows.

Since then, the big game's midpoint has seen mini-sets by a roster of older and less-likely-to-disrobe performers: Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Prince, and this year's stars, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

Don't expect a big change next year.

Surely the news hasn't escaped planners that Bruce Springsteen is touring throughout 2008, and a resurrected Led Zeppelin may be as well.

Elton John seems like a safe bet. Or his sometime tour-mate Billy Joel. Or both. Or maybe a big-name country act such as Kenny Chesney.

And don't forget Celine Dion plays Tampa four days before the game. Perhaps she could extend her stay.

Reporters Janis D. Froelich, Ted Jackovics, Ellen Gedalius, Curtis Ross and Kevin Walker contributed to this report.

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