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Super Bowl NFL Experience
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Experience Counts In Setting Up Tampa's NFL Theme Park
News Channel 8 image
The attraction will be open to the public Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
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Published: January 23, 2009
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The National Football League bills the NFL Experience as pro football's interactive theme park.
Right now, the only interactive part of the attraction is for the workers putting it together.
Noah Gold, an NFL Experience spokesman, said today he is confident the work will be finished before the gates open Saturday morning.
"The larger it gets, the more complicated it gets," he said of the event, in its 18th year.
The NFL Experience will include interactive games, pro football displays, kids' clinics, free autograph sessions and a football card show.
It runs the week leading up to Super Bowl XLIII on Feb. 1 at Raymond James Stadium.
Journalists got an advance preview of the attraction today.
The temporary theme park, which resembles a tent city from the road, encompasses 850,000 square feet next to the stadium.
The area looked more like a construction site than a theme park around lunchtime.
Trucks and forklifts crept along with supplies and workers. Tent structures were being erected. Workers installed large-screen televisions and fire extinguishers.
Golf carts zipped along carrying VIPs who checked on progress.
A few journalists tried out major amenities, such as the Punt, Pass and Kick game. The exhibit allows visitors to test their skills throwing and kicking footballs in game-like settings.
The league created the NFL Experience as a way for the community to participate in some of the excitement of the Super Bowl without needing a ticket to the game, which can reach $1,000 each.
The attraction will be open to the public Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. It reopens Thursday through Saturday. The attraction will only be open to Super Bowl ticket holders on game day.
Tickets are $18.50 for adults and $12.50 for children 12 and younger. They can be purchased in advance by calling (866) TIX-4NFL (849-4635), online at www.superbowl.com, or at the gate.
Reporter Baird Helgeson can be reached at (813) 259-7668.
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