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Tampa Leaders Look West For Super View

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By ELLEN GEDALIUS and VALERIE KALFRIN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 24, 2008

Updated: 01/24/2008 12:15 am

TAMPA - Dozens of local officials and various movers and shakers are traveling to the Super Bowl in Arizona next week, some expenses compliments of the committee in Tampa preparing the city to host the big game next year.

Police officers, fire and emergency management officials, hotel executives, a city leader and a county commissioner are on a list of about 60 heading to Glendale, Ariz. They are going to learn about what works and what doesn't.

"It's to observe events, to observe what happens at the stadium, to observe the downtown area, how it affects the airport, how traffic is affected," said Reid Sigmon, executive director of the Tampa Bay Super Bowl Host Committee. "It's things like that we can pick up by being there."

Sigmon said the host committee, a group formed to coordinate Super Bowl activities in Tampa, will pay for hotel costs and airfare for representatives from the Tampa Police Department, Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, Tampa Fire Rescue and city administration. The committee also will cover airfare costs for Henry Saavedra, executive director of Tampa Sports Authority.

Other payment arrangements still are being worked out with some of the other groups. The host committee gets three-fourths of its money from private and corporate sponsorships. The remaining 25 percent comes from tourist taxes and the Florida Sports Foundation.

Traveling Contingent

Among those traveling:

•County Commission Chairman Ken Hagan

•Tampa Neighborhood Services Administrator Santiago Corrada
•Host Committee directors Dick Beard, Leonard Levy and Rhea Law

•Tampa Bay & Company President Paul Catoe

•Tampa Emergency Management Coordinator Chauncia Willis

•Tampa Fire Rescue Chief Dennis Jones.

Although Tampa has hosted the Super Bowl several times, the 2009 game will be the first Super Bowl here since the Sept. 11 attacks. The size of the crowd increases annually as well, so a trip to Arizona will be worthwhile, Sigmon said.
Corrada said he wants to see how involved Glendale was in beautification projects, how much municipalities spent on in-kind costs and how Glendale coordinated with other local governments.

"My purpose is to go out there and see the duties and responsibilities of the city hosting the event," Corrada said.

For police Maj. John Bennett, the trip isn't nearly as glamorous as people would think.

"I saw the opening kickoff," he remembered. "You really don't see the game."

Fire Capt. Bill Wade said Jones will gather the fire rescue group together for a debriefing.

"Their goal is not to see the game," Wade said. "Their goal is to see how the emergency management center operates, how they deal with any situations that arise."

Sigmon said some of the roughly 60 members of the delegation will receive tickets to the game from the host committee, but wouldn't say exactly how many.

For Saavedra, the Glendale trip is as much about networking as anything else.

Party Time

"Shaking hands," Saavedra said. "The competition is getting stiffer. New stadiums are being built in the South. We need a presence."

That means going to the parties Friday and Saturday nights and mingling as much as possible with NFL representatives at the Feb. 3 contest between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants.

Some members of the Tampa delegation arrive on Wednesday before the game. On Thursday, the group will attend a safety briefing, then tour the local Emergency Operations Center, according to an itinerary. The group will spend hours touring the stadium, the screening area for deliveries and NFL Experience, an interactive theme park open during the Super Bowl that encompasses about 1 million square feet, said Brian McCarthy, an NFL spokesman in New York City.

Friday and Saturday will be spent at the local media center, NFL headquarters, practice field and stadium again before Sunday's kickoff.

Reporter Ellen Gedalius can be reached at (813) 259-7679 or egedalius@tampatrib.com.

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