Years of planning starting to materialize as Denton prepares for the 2011 North Texas Super Bowl

ity poor Jason Piter. He has been to three Super Bowls – and never seen the game.  For his first Super Bowl in 2008, he set up camp 35 miles from Phoenix and checked out the local hotels for occupancy rates. (They were booked solid.) For the Tampa game in 2009, he worked the Media Center and scoped out the host committee’s organization. (Once again, hotels 35 miles away were sold out.) Miami and Super Bowl XLIV were on Jason’s itinerary again this year. By now, of course, everyone knows what he’s up to: spying for Denton.

North Texas is about to host its first-ever Super Bowl in 2011 and Denton (you guessed it, 35 miles up the road from the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington) is plotting a winning game plan for next February 6. For fans, the Super Bowl is a huge tailgate party and a celebration of sportsmanship that chronicles the rise and fall of the nation’s football empires. But for host cities, it’s a chance not only to make money, but also to show off their prize tourist attractions and lure visitors into returning. North Texas is expecting 250,000 to a half million people to descend on the DFW Metroplex for the game, spending upwards of $300 million on the week around the game. “It will take this whole region to make the unprecedented 2011 Super Bowl in North Texas the historic success it can be. Denton is committed to do its part to make it happen,” says Mayor Mark Burroughs.

Planning for Super Bowl XLV started the minute the National Football League awarded the game to North Texas in 2007. Although Dallas, Fort Worth and Arlington will host the big NFL concerts and parties, all 12 cities on the North Texas Super Bowl Host Committee have a role in the 2011 game. Texas has played host to only two Super Bowls in the past, both in Houston, so Tara Green, vice president and chief operating officer of the North Texas host committee, says all the cities want this Super Bowl to be the biggest and best ever, in hopes that the NFL will come back. “We have a lot to offer. We know that being a first-time Super Bowl host is very important. It’s important to the region,” Tara says. “It’s a marketing opportunity for North Texas to showcase itself to the world. It’s Texas! We do things bigger in Texas, right?”

Denton plans to flaunt not just its physical attributes (nearly 2,000 hotel rooms and a growing Denton Airport) but also a lively (if not downright raucous) arts scene centered on its historic downtown Square. The Denton Convention & Visitor Bureau has taken the lead on planning and recruited members from local hotels, businesses, Denton Airport and the University of North Texas to be on a Super Bowl task force. The DCVB first sent Jason, its sports marketing manager, to Phoenix in 2008 to evaluate the economic impact of the game for communities outside the immediate Super Bowl zone. What he found cheered them. (Devoted fans have proven, after all, that they will drive an hour or more to see the game. For Super Bowl XXXVI in New Orleans in 2002, fans drove all the way from Baton Rouge – 80 miles up the road.)

On a warm and sunny day last September, the Denton task force gathered at the Holiday Inn Hotel & Conference Center to brainstorm strategies for the big game. Sitting at two tables in the sleek new bar area, convention and hotel people, infrastructure guys, and university planners tossed out ideas. Hank Dickenson from the UNT Athletic Department noted he is working on a sports-related event with local celebrities and athletes. Denton’s Airport, a favorite with the corporate jet set, pitched in news of its new longer runway and taxiway as well as radar to accommodate larger aircraft. There was a light-hearted moment when someone mentioned the annual Maxim Party (which usually vies with the Playboy party for wildness). Kim Phillips, vice president of the convention bureau, says the city is projecting $3.2 million in revenues from the Super Bowl, spinning off $225,000 in hotel taxes, which can be used to promote tourism and venues in the future. Not bad for an investment of about $15,000. “The return on investment is a given. It’s going to happen,” she says.

Denton’s Airport, which handles general aviation, is key to the Super Bowl transportation plan. The Federal Aviation Administration puts in place a temporary flight restriction (TFR) on the airspace around Super Bowl stadiums for an allotted time before and after the game, notes Denton Airport manager Quentin Hix. “It extends 30 miles out from Cowboy Stadium. Of the nine general aviation airports to accommodate traffic for the Super Bowl, there are only two airports outside that 30-mile TFR. It’s Denton and Collin County, and Denton is less than a one-hour limo ride to Cowboys Stadium.”

Denton Airport has long been a favorite of businessmen and celebrities looking for alternatives to the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. “Our general aviation airport is probably one of the busiest in the Metroplex. A plane is coming or going every minute,” says Quentin. To keep up with this demand, the airport is extending its 6,000-foot runway to 7,000 feet and adding taxiway to allow room for 34 new hangars. The longer runway and new radar tower will accommodate larger aircraft, making it accessible to more patrons wanting to fly in for the big game. Quentin expects the airport’s busiest time to be 12 hours before and after the actual game, envisioning anywhere from 90 to 200 aircraft using the runways and hangars.

While the big Taste of the NFL Party and concerts are in the Metroplex, Denton can hold its own with legendary Fry Street, the up-and-coming Industrial Street zone, and the clubs and restaurants downtown. Hank Dickenson is working with UNT alum and four-time Super Bowl champion “Mean Joe” Greene, of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ dynasty teams of the ’70s, on a sports event to be hosted by Denton – a legends game on a legendary field, Fouts Field at UNT where “Mean Joe” got his start. The field will be replaced in 2011 by the university’s new $60 million state-of-the-art stadium. “It would be great to have a legends game where you could get the Roger Staubachs and Joe Greenes and the other former players that live in the area,” Hank says. UNT’s other contribution to the Super Bowl will be providing student volunteers for game weekend.

Super Bowl XLV will be Jason’s fourth Super Bowl game – and no, doubt, the fourth one he won’t see. He’s excited to be part of the game, even if it’s outside the gates of Cowboys Stadium. “A lot of people don’t know what the North Texas region is about, but we’re expecting 250,000 to a half million people – and media from all over the world – to come down to the Super Bowl. That will expose people to Denton,” he says. “We’re going to capitalize on that.”

by ryan feuerhelm