Hoopla going beyond super

Each Super Bowl tops the one before. What's for 2009?

By JANET ZINK, Times Staff Writer
Published February 3, 2008

From left: Bucs linebacker Derrick Brooks, New Orleans Saints defensive end Renaldo Wynn, Bucs running back Michael Bennett and New York Jets wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery take part in the Sprint Phone-A-Friend event during the NFL Experience prior to Super Bowl XLII in Phoenix.
	[Getty Images]

ADVERTISEMENT [Getty Images] Paris Hilton is among the celebrities who are scheduled for Super Bowl interviews for Sprint.

PHOENIX - More parties. More celebrities. More media. More corporate sponsors.

The Super Bowl beast gets bigger every year.

Sure, when the game came to Tampa in 2001, it brought along an impressive menu of party options and a constellation of Hollywood faces for stargazers.

But when it returns in 2009, expect an avalanche of both driven in part by new media options, ranging from the NFL Network to original programming for mobile devices, and more public events hosted by the NFL.

Bill Smith, chairman of the Phoenix Convention Bureau, said the hoopla surrounding this year's Super Bowl has been light years beyond what he saw in 1996, the last time Arizona hosted the game.

"This is so different from before," he said. "Massively."

This year, the traditional Nike, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, Maxim and Playboy parties were on tap, with access limited to VIPs and those with plenty of disposable income. But John Travolta, Sean "Diddy" Combs, Ludacris and Snoop Dogg - to name a few - also lent their names to events, some with tickets available for as little as $15, and others going for more than $1,000.

Common folk could buy tickets to the Pepsi Smash Super Bowl concert series, which is broadcast on VH1. Last year, before the Super Bowl in Miami, the concerts featured Fergie and John Legend. This year it was Mary J. Blige and Maroon 5, with tickets available for less than $50.

For the first time, the NFL this year hosted Super Bowl Saturday Night, which includes a free concert by the Counting Crows and a fireworks show.

Krista Soroka, director of events and hospitality for the Tampa Bay Super Bowl Host Committee, said she spoke to the NFL about possible locations for a similar event in the bay area next year.

Locals welcome

"The NFL is trying to create more opportunities for the locals to be involved," she said.

Soroka is part of a Tampa Bay contingent that fanned out across Phoenix, Glendale and surrounding areas this week to get a taste of what to expect next year.

The group hosted a party Thursday night that had some star power of its own.

Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach, who's leading the planning effort for the 2011 Super Bowl in North Texas, stopped by, and former Vice President Dan Quayle popped in to rub elbows with the legendary ballplayer.

Reid Sigmon, executive director of Tampa's host committee, said he and his staff have touched base with multiple media outlets gearing up for 2009 in Tampa.

In 2001, about 3,500 media-types received credentials to cover Super Bowl activities in Tampa. This year, a record 4,786 credentials were issued to U.S. and international media from print, television, radio and Internet outlets.

When Tampa last hosted a Super Bowl, ESPN radio broadcast from a corner of the Marriott Waterside Hotel with a staff of 16 people.

"That was basically a couple of tables put together," said Keith Goralski, senior director of operations and events for ESPN Productions. "Now we have multimedia sets."

Corporate excess

The outfit brought a staff of 40 to Arizona and broadcast radio shows from stages in Phoenix, Glendale and Scottsdale with the programs shown on television and the Internet and sent to the mobile devices of Verizon Wireless subscribers.

Sprint set up stages in Phoenix and Scottsdale, from where it sent celebrity and athlete interviews with the likes of 50 Cent, Paris Hilton, Jerry Rice and Barry Sanders directly to Sprint subscribers.

"This is a space that everybody wants to be in," said Josh Wine of Intersport, which produces original content for Sprint. "It's a new outlet for the guys to be seen and heard."

John Moors, director of the Tampa Convention Center, said he was struck by how elaborate corporate sponsor booths have become. Gatorade turned one room in the Phoenix Convention Center into a small bowling alley to promote its new low-calorie drink.

"To me it seems like it's all taken up to another level since 2001," he said. "There's obviously a lot of cash flowing."

Janet Zink can be reached at jzink@sptimes.com or 813 226-3401.

By the numbers

4,786 Number of media credentials at Super Bowl XLII.

223 Number ofcountries and territories broadcastingthe Super Bowl.

$700 Approximate face value of ticket to this year's game, according to USA Today.

$1,700 Cost of a ticketto Super Bowl Saturday Night Spectacularparty, hosted by John Travolta, right, and Marshall Faulk.

$6 to $12 Cost of a ticket to the first Super Bowl game.

[Last modified February 3, 2008, 00:20:14]