With Super Bowl XLIII history, local host committees for the next two NFL championships are turning their attention toward fundraising and sponsorship sales with a watchful eye on the recession.
“The reality is we’re watching the economy,” said Rodney Barreto, chairman of the Super Bowl XLIV Host Committee overseeing the Miami game, “but you look at the [TV] numbers from this year’s game and I think what it shows is that the Super Bowl is as recession-proof as anything is. It is America’s favorite escape.”
Other than saying $15 million would be an “outside number” for its total sponsorship dollars and in-kind arrangements, Barreto, who also chaired the host committee for the 2007 Super Bowl in South Florida, was mum on specific numbers. He said both government funding, along with sponsorships sales, were ahead of where the last committee was a year before Super Bowl XLI. The Super Bowl XLI Host Committee raised around $10 million in revenue.
While the Pro Bowl has been added to the Super Bowl mix in Miami, specifics on what Pro Bowl sponsorship assets the NFL or the host committee will have to sell have not been finalized.
For the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee, there is a different focus. While the Miami region is well-established as a Super Bowl host, “we are trying to lay the foundation so this isn’t our last Super Bowl, it’s our first one,” said Bill Lively, host committee president and CEO.
The committee’s goal is to sell 15 of its top-level million-dollar sponsorships by the end of June. “We know the economy will slow it down some, but we still feel good about where we are,” Lively said.
The top-level packages include a 16-person suite at the Super Bowl, along with 50 tickets elsewhere in the Dallas Cowboys’ new stadium, hospitality, transportation and the usual inclusion in host committee activities. However, Lively advises there will be a “crescendo” of pre-Super Bowl events from the host committee, starting just after next year’s game in Florida.
Among the buyers at the top level are real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle, the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau, The Staubach Co., Ross Perot Jr.’s Hillwood Development Co. and, in a twist, the Texas Rangers.
Packages in the $250,000 and $500,000 range will hit the market in midsummer, he said.
