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Events and Attractions

‘NFL Honors’ now among most sought-after events

Difficult as it is to believe, five years ago, the NHL had an annual televised awards show and the NFL did not. The NFL’s biggest awards were adjudicated by The Associated Press and awarded with all the glory and impact a press release could deliver.

In 2011, league officials were looking to add more programming to Super Bowl week and more impact to the NFL awards administered by the AP, including the Most Valuable Player, Coach of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, and the Offensive and Defensive Rookies of the Year. They came up with “NFL Honors,” a Saturday night ceremony and two-hour TV show highlighting the best players and plays from the season.

Model Chrissy Teigen joins J.J. Watt on stage at last year's "NFL Honors," held at the Phoenix Convention Center.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
“‘Honors’ has grown into something bigger and a real Saturday night happening, but honestly, our original motivation was to add cachet to our most important player awards, which had never really been promoted, publicized or marketed,” said Mark Quenzel, senior vice president of programming and production for NFL Network.

“NFL Honors” debuted in 2012 in Indianapolis. The two-hour tape-delay show is broadcast on the network with that year’s Super Bowl rights; this year, that’s CBS. The NFL Network’s hourlong red-carpet show from “NFL Honors” kicks off the evening.

“NFL Honors” has earned a place as one the most sought-after events on the Saturday night before the Super Bowl. It’s a particular favorite of NFL business partners because of its heady mix of NFL owners, league officials, top active and retired players, and corporate brass.

“My CEO will not miss it,” said Phil Pacsi, vice president of consumer marketing at Bridgestone, an NFL sponsor since 2007. “It’s become a see-and-be-seen event.”

ANDERSON
Added Renie Anderson, NFL senior vice president of sponsorship and partnership management: “There’s this moment where you look around at ‘Honors’ and you realize you are seeing the NFL of the past, present and future. That’s important, because it’s not just the people on stage, it’s the people that show up in the crowd and on the red carpet that make it special.”

Two years ago, the Pro Football Hall of Fame began including the announcement of its new inductees as part of “NFL Honors.” Now Hall of Famers, new and old, are part of the evening.

“It’s become our Academy Awards,” said Hall of Fame President David Baker. “We used to just do an ESPN announcement and a press conference; now we’re part of something special. There’s a lot of gold [Hall of Fame] jackets in that audience now.”

Like many sponsors, Bridgestone plays off a seasonlong promotion with the “Performance Play of the Year” award, following weekly votes during the season.

“‘Honors’ gives us something we can leverage for 21 weeks through the NFL season and into Super Bowl week, which is phenomenal,” said Carolyn Eckert, director of integrated marketing at NFL sponsor Castrol, which ran a promotion similar to Bridgestone that also will culminate at “NFL Honors” with the “Clutch Performer of the Year” award.

Other sponsors include NFL corporate patrons Bose, Lenovo, McDonald’s, Nationwide, Microsoft, SAP, Verizon, FedEx, Courtyard, USAA and Papa John’s.

Anderson and Tracie Rodburg, NFL vice president of sponsorship and partnership management, were among the group at the NFL who developed “NFL Honors” in late 2011, pushed by former NFL Network CEO Steve Bornstein, who had helped build the ESPY awards when he was ESPN’s CEO.

“Our partners had to underwrite this show to make it viable, so we both had to find the right balance of giving the appropriate honor to these awards and offering the partner integration and an association with the winner,” Rodburg said. “I think we’ve done that.”

This year’s “NFL Honors” will take place before an audience of around 3,000 at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco and emceed by Conan O’Brien. Tickets are largely distributed to the league’s business partners.
So what’s next?

“Even though this is Super Bowl 50 and it had to be big, we’ll be challenged to make it bigger and better for 51,” Anderson said with a laugh. “And I don’t think we have any programming on Wednesday night of Super Bowl week, so …”


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