Super Bowl XLV Could Set Record For Food And Drink Spending

Legends Hospitality Management Chair & CEO Mike Rawlings said that “more money will be spent in one day on food and drink” at Cowboys Stadium for Super Bowl XLV “than ever before in the event’s 45-year history,” according to Gary Jacobson of the DALLAS MORNING NEWS. Rawlings, whose company handles concessions and catering at the stadium, said, “We expect to set a record for Super Bowls.” He estimated that the Feb. 6 game “would set records for both per-person spending and total spending.” Rawlings indicated that the “single-day, per-capita Super Bowl spending record is slightly less than $50.” LHM “should exceed that, translating into total food and beverage sales of $5 million or more at the stadium.” By comparison, Levy Restaurants Dir of Operations Chris Adams said that a three-day race weekend at Texas Motor Speedway attracts 400,000 fans and “produces food and beverage spending of more than $5 million.” Boston Culinary Group had per cap food and beverage spending of $78.50 for the ’07 Super Bowl at Sun Life Stadium, and Centerplate last year did $71 at the same venue. But those figures “include non-game-day functions, such as the NFL Experience.” The NFL Experience this year “will be at the Dallas Convention Center, which is serviced by Centerplate.” LHM during the regular season also “handles merchandise sales at Cowboys Stadium,” but the NFL for the Super Bowl “brings in a different vendor, with different merchandise.” LHM will handle the stadium tours for the league, and Rawlings said that his company “expects about 17,000 people to take the tour, priced at up to $40 a head.” For the Super Bowl, LHM's partner “is the NFL, not the Cowboys.” The NFL’s cut “will be shared equally among the league’s 32 teams.”  This will be the first Super Bowl for LHM. When the company launched in '08, Rawlings said that it “could generate revenue of $100 million, possibly even $150 million, in its first full year of operation.” He said LHM now is “at least 50 percent larger now than that expectation” (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 1/20).

GUEST OF HONOR: In Ft. Worth, Pete Alfano writes the "latest unexpected development" in planning for Super Bowl XLV is the prospect that President Obama could attend the game if the Bears are playing. No sitting president has ever attended a Super Bowl. NFL Senior VP/Events Frank Supovitz said, “We may have to change some procedures and add assets, but we will deal with it." Meanwhile, Supovitz said "several thousand" Cowboys season-ticket holders could watch the game on video screens outside Cowboys Stadium, and he explained that it is “possible for fans not physically inside the stadium to count as part of the attendance.” Supovitz: “Actually, this was an original concept, elements of which were proposed in the bid. The party plaza is within the stadium campus, and you need a ticket to get in the perimeter. That is the same as it is for every game here. The difference is that during the regular season, ticketed fans can all walk in the building. It's like having a grounds pass to the U.S. Open tennis." Supovitz said that the NFL “ran the plan past its broadcast partners because paying to watch the game in offsite venues is not allowed.” He said that the fact that the video screens in the outside plaza “are already in place and used during the Cowboys season makes them part of the regular stadium experience” (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 1/20).

READY ON THREE: In Dallas, Jeff Mosier notes the North Texas Super Bowl Host Committee “met for the final time Wednesday at Cowboys Stadium,” where it “received its final in-person briefing on the Super Bowl.” Host Committee President & CEO Bill Lively said, “There was a sense of nostalgia. It’s been a long journey.” Supovitz said, “I believe that Super Bowl XLV will be a new standard against which all others are judged.” Organizers “rounded up more than 10,150 volunteers” for Super Bowl weekend. Committee officials said that their $40M budget “had dropped to just under” $39M. Lively said that about $1M “in obligations has been cut from the budget,” but he declined to give details about the cost savings. Mosier notes all 1,250 of the host committee’s Super Bowl tickets have been "distributed to sponsors and members, but there are still two suites available." Meanwhile, the NFL on Sunday “will release smart phone applications to help visitors get around” North Texas (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 1/20).