Menu
Super Bowl

Trophies can’t skip security

DON RENZULLI
Executive vice president
of events, NHL

Renzulli was senior director of event operations at the NFL and has been part of 33 Super Bowls.

Super Bowl XXXVI in New Orleans was the first Super Bowl following 9/11. In early October, the game was rescheduled from Jan. 27 to Feb. 3, forcing us to relocate every wedding, meeting and convention in the area in order to accommodate the game.

It was the first Super Bowl designated a National Special Security Event by the federal government. Once that happened, we redesigned the entire security plan, including instituting a 300-foot perimeter around the Superdome, installing magnetometers, putting in a new credentialing system, the works.

On game day, I was responsible for bringing the Lombardi and Rozelle trophies into the stadium. The Secret Service met me at the checkpoint closest to the Hyatt Regency New Orleans — the host hotel — and loaded me and the trophy cases on a golf cart.

They drove me in the opposite direction of the stadium, behind the New Orleans Arena but within the security perimeter. Just as I was about to ask where we were going, we stopped in the middle of the street that they had closed down south of the stadium. There, a dozen secret service detail removed the trophies from their cases, placed them on the ground and called in bomb-sniffing dogs. It would have been great to have an NFL Films crew with me because no one would believe what the trophies had to go through that year just to get into the stadium.

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 18, 2024

Sports Business Awards nominees unveiled; NWSL's historic opening weekend and takeaways from CFP deal

ESPN’s Jay Bilas, BTN’s Meghan McKeown, and a deep dive into AppleTV+’s The Dynasty

On this week’s Sports Media Podcast from the New York Post and Sports Business Journal, ESPN’s Jay Bilas talks all things NCAA. Big Ten Network’s Meghan McKeown shares her insight into the Caitlin Clark craze. The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn chats all things Bean Town. And SBJ’s Xavier Hunter drops in to share his findings on how the NWSL is making a social media push.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2016/02/01/Super-Bowl/Don-Renzulli-SB-Memories.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2016/02/01/Super-Bowl/Don-Renzulli-SB-Memories.aspx

CLOSE