S
allie Sargent’s first exposure to Super Bowl operations surely sounds glamorous — working on the game (Super Bowl XXV) that featured Whitney Houston’s famed national anthem performance — but she concedes that she was a lowly gofer.
Sallie Sargent
HOUSTON SUPER BOWL HOST COMMITTEE,
PRESIDENT AND CEO
“I remember her in that white track suit and how proud I was to be an American,” Sargent said of Houston and the singer’s performance that day.
Now, she gets a different Houston and a different Super Bowl.
Learning the ins and outs of big events has been Sargent’s life, with the next Super Bowl in Houston her first time running the whole show. She came to the attention of the Houston bid organizers for her job helping Minnesota land the Republican National Convention in 2008, writing the bid for the 2008 Arizona Super Bowl, and her many years working for the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona.
The biggest challenge, she said, about her current post is smashing stereotypes about what kind of city Houston is. She describes it as the most diverse city in the country and points out that half of the people who work downtown arrive via light rail.
“Don’t underestimate what you know about Houston,” Sargent said. “Houston is passionate about green space.”
She also points to Discovery Park downtown, which will be a center of Super Bowl activities in the week of the game. The 17 founding partners of the Houston host committee, instead of activating individually around the city, are working together to sponsor one area at the Super Bowl downtown festival to market Houston.
“It is a full city block that will tell the story of Houston,” Sargent said.
— Daniel Kaplan
