Now that the Super Bowl and all of its activities have exited the Valley of the Sun, the Phoenix area can turn its attention to its next big event — the Jan. 11, 2016, College Football Playoff championship game. Brad Wright, co-chair of the Arizona Organizing Committee for the CFP game, was busy taking notes throughout Super Bowl week, trying to identify ideas that might work for the CFP game. “I think it will look very similar to the first CFP game in Dallas, but you’ll see us pull from the Super Bowl as well,” Wright said.
Wright, owner of a real estate firm in Phoenix, will represent the boots on the ground in Phoenix over the next 11 months as the CFP makes plans for its second championship game. He spoke with SportsBusiness Journal’s Michael Smith.
■
What was your impression of the inaugural CFP game in Dallas?
WRIGHT: In Dallas, we observed and took notes and we were really impressed with the scale and the scope of this thing. It’s really become the Super Bowl of college football. It’s a four-day celebration of college football that has events for the football fan and the non-football fan. … The game, the fan fest, the taste event, the music festival, the 5K, all of the CFP activities were very similar to the Super Bowl model and all of which we envision being replicated in one form or another next year.
■ How does the Super Bowl in Phoenix influence CFP planning?
WRIGHT:
The CFP has done a masterful job of laying the groundwork to allow this game to
{podcast}
SBJ Podcast Archive:
From Jan. 19: Staff writers Michael Smith and John Ourand assess the first College Football Playoff National Championship Game, what sponsors thought of it and what can be expected in Phoenix next year.
grow into that same kind of experience (as the Super Bowl). Dallas blew me away with just how far along they were in their first year. Even with that, there’s the opportunity for these events (the fan fest, concerts, game-day tailgate and parties) to grow exponentially, in terms of industry participation and tourism participation. People get it now. They’ve seen what it’s about — it’s more than just a football game.”
■ What’s a takeaway from the Super Bowl that could be applied to the CFP game?
WRIGHT: Just how this kind of big event can be leveraged to shine a bright spotlight on the local community. We worked with the governor’s office here, the commerce authority and the Super Bowl host committee to bring about 70 CEOs to town and they attended the Super Bowl along with some other programming and events for them. These are CEOs of companies that are officially interested in relocating, so we showed them that Arizona is a great place to do business. We plan to replicate that with the CFP game as well. As important or more important than the economic impact from the event is the long-term economic impact we can drive for Arizona. We will leverage that as much as we can to showcase the state.
 |
The Super Bowl put many ancillary events in downtown Phoenix, something the area and the CFP will be studying.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
|
■ The host committee has its own budget, so what types of revenue and expenses are in it?
WRIGHT:
ESPN has their sponsors, but there are lots of other local companies and even some national companies that will be brought into the mix. There will be opportunities to sponsor events and parties, to attend those events and get their brand out there. We’ve got a good start on that already with money that’s been committed by the Arizona Office of Tourism. We’re obviously working hard with other sponsors that we’re in various levels of negotiations with. On the expense side, we’re committed to pay for costs associated with hosting these kinds of events, such as security.
■ Will the CFP’s ancillary events (fan fest, concerts) be spread out or will they be centralized in one area?
WRIGHT: A lot of that is still under discussion and will be driven by the CFP folks. They’ll ask our advice, we’ll give it, and we’ll work closely with them. At the end of the day, though, the CFP will make those decisions about where the big events will be. As the host committee, we’ll do our best to leverage off of their events and create some of our own as well. … But you’ll definitely see us follow the Super Bowl playbook in terms of how they activated the Valley with events and parties.
