When it came to running the Super Bowl, Jim Steeg knew what mattered the most. “Jim convinced all of us that it was largely about the three Ts: traffic, trash and toilets. If you get all of those perfected, you were 90% of the way to a successful event,” said former Fox Sports chairman David Hill. “The longer I’m around, the more I know he was right about that.”
Here are some more of Steeg’s reflections on his legendary career:
REQUISITE SKILLS FOR RUNNING A BIG EVENT
“You can’t be autocratic. You have to be the one who listens to all the ideas out there and brings them together. You can’t do everything your way only.”
BEST COMMISSIONER EVER: PETE ROZELLE
“He had integrity beyond anyone, was a master at manipulating any room, and he had the vision about using TV to advance the game before anyone else. … I got the honor of putting together his memorial service in New York, which was special for me.”
WILL WE EVER SEE A SUPER BOWL OUTSIDE OF THE U.S.?
“Not in my lifetime, but we will see it eventually, just like we’ll see an NFL team based outside the U.S. someday.”
ADVICE TO STUDENTS HOPING TO BREAK INTO SPORTS
“Find a way to get involved in sports when you are in college, within the athletic department or at the facility itself. Everyone wants an internship and I always push minor league baseball, because you’ll do everything there, from selling popcorn to being the mascot.”
ON SUPER BOWL XXXVIII’s “NIPPLEGATE”
“That caused the most angst of any Super Bowl. I knew it was out of control from the beginning. Eminem was at the top of MTV’s [suggested] list and we said no way. … I had more than a premonition. The rehearsals that week were bad. … We mobilized quickly, but it was a very long night.”
HALFTIME REGRETS?
“Not being able to book Springsteen (he played halftime in 2009, after Steeg left); not getting the Eagles to play in 2005, despite their interest; never doing a Broadway-themed show; letting Viacom make the decisions on the Houston (Janet Jackson) halftime; should have involved Sinatra in the early 1980s; not using Lynyrd Skynyrd in Jacksonville (their home town) in 2005.”
WORST EXCUSE FROM THOSE SEEKING FREE SUPER BOWL GAME TICKETS
“You’d get the guys with a kid or other relative dying of cancer, sometimes two or three years in a row. But really, the party tickets were worse, because there were fewer of them. When I was working will call at one, a guy insisted that he had talked to Jim Steeg that day and I had left him tickets. I let someone else tell him who I was.”
HAVE YOU BEEN BACK TO A SUPER BOWL SINCE LEAVING THE LEAGUE?
“Nope. Pete Rozelle said he would never go back, because it was someone else’s watch. We had to beg and plead for him to toss the coin at Super Bowl XXV, which he did, but never again. I did go to Super Bowl LII a few years ago for the anniversary of ‘Taste of the NFL,’ in Minneapolis, where it started, but I left before the game.”
