the coalition builder

Tara Green
Divide and Conquer
Spring 2011

TARA GREEN serves as the Chief Operating Officer of the North Texas Super Bowl Host Committee.

MPG :  What attracted you to this industry?

Tara:  I have a master’s degree in sports administration.  In 1994, after graduate school, I went to work for the Dallas World Cup Host Committee.  I had no idea at the time that there was a sports travel industry but I knew I wanted to be in Dallas and I wanted to work in sports. 

After Dallas hosted the World Cup, I joined the athletic department at the University of North Texas and, in 1997, I was fortunate enough to be hired by the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau to help bring sports events to the city.  It was there that I learned about the hospitality and tourism industry and I absolutely love it.  Because Dallas didn’t have a sports commission, the CVB performed that function and I had the opportunity to work on the bid for the 2012 Olympic Games. 

When the Cowboys decided to bid on Super Bowl XLV, they called me and asked if I would help with the bid.  For the Olympic bid, we had three years to prepare.  For Super Bowl XLV, we had only six months.  Philip Jones, the president and CEO of the Dallas CVB, agreed to let me take a short sabbatical, for which I will be forever grateful, so I took off my Dallas hat and I put on my North Texas hat.

Tell us about the bid process?

The NFL issued the bid specifications to all 32 NFL teams in November 2006.  The specs included 244 pages divided into 13 chapters and I knew immediately that we had to divide and conquer.

We contacted the leaders in their individual industries and said, “Will you help us put this bid together.”  The stadium took responsibility for pulling together the stadium section.  I asked the CVBs and the hotels in the region to help write the hospitality section.  We asked the North Central Texas Council of Governments to write the transportation section.  The North Texas Commission, our regional ambassadors for economic development, provided my office space.   

From day one, there was a cooperative effort from within Dallas County, Tarrant County, Collin County and Denton County.  We branded ourselves, not the Dallas Super Bowl or the DFW Super Bowl, but the North Texas Super Bowl.

We are most proud of the regional cooperation that will live on long well beyond the Super Bowl.  Public safety officials have acknowledged that they worked together like never before.  The Super Bowl gave us the reason to do something that needed to be done anyway, and that was to work together. 

How did you learn that North Texas’ bid was selected?

I was at the NFL owners meeting in May 2007 in Nashville. There were three areas bidding - Indianapolis, Arizona and North Texas.  Each was given fifteen minutes to make a presentation to the team owners.  The Jones family made the plea for why North Texas should host Super Bowl XLV.  The rules allow for up to four rounds of voting and it went all four rounds before a decision was finally reached.  I was in the room when Roger Goodell, the NFL Commissioner, walked in, shook Chairman Roger Staubach’s hand, and said, “Congratulations, North Texas will be hosting Super Bowl XLV!” 

Tell us about working with Roger Staubach.

Roger embodies integrity.  He believes that if you do the right things for the right reasons, you can always hold your head high. That culture permeated our committee. 

Roger Staubach knows how to handle pressure.  We were in the “war room” for over an hour waiting for a decision.  Everyone was on pins and needles so, to help cut the tension, he started telling stories and even juggled cream cheese packets.  As quarterback, he led the Cowboys to victory.  He did the same thing for our region. 

What lessons did you learn from this experience and what advice would you like to share?

Don’t be afraid to ask for help.  Identify the leaders and engage them.  Everyone is better when they are equally yoked and working together toward a well-defined, common goal.   

I am a firm believer in building regional partnerships and coalitions.  No one city had enough venues, hotels, restaurants, etc. to be all things to an event like the Super Bowl but sports united our region around a common goal.  When we got the event for North Texas, everybody won. 

What is your advice for CVBs with regards to developing the sports market?

Sports is the only market segment within the CVB industry that has grown since 9/11.  Even when dollars are tight, people will travel for their children’s events and their own participatory sport events. 

No matter the size of the community, if you have a CVB you may also have a Parks and Recreation Department.  Contact them, find out what venues you have in your community, and if they want to host additional events.  Some cities might say, “No, we can’t bring in a softball tournament or an Ultimate Frisbee championship here because we have to provide our facilities to our residents.”  What if by displacing a resident event for two days on a weekend, you could make much more money from the event’s economic impact for your community?  Get your hotels and restaurants to support your efforts and you will begin seeing a positive economic impact across multiple industries.

What is the process for North Texas to bid on a future Super Bowl?

The NFL issues bid specifications to every NFL team each fall.  The Cowboys, our host team, must make the decision whether they wish to bid.  If they choose to bid, the process starts all over again. 

We hope that we are going to leave some of our committee staff intact to help launch a regional sports commission.  Then, if the Cowboys did chose to bid on Super Bowl L, the sports commission would be in place to help develop that bid. 

Super Bowl XLV was a phenomenal event that went way beyond a great football game.  We had over 6,000 trees planted in 12 cities.  We had 45,000 children provide over 400,000 hours of community service.  All of the benchmarks for measuring success within the hotel communities in our major cities were achieved.  The list of successes goes on and on.

The Host Committee and all of North Texas should be extremely proud of what was accomplished as a region and, for that, we would love the honor of hosting it again. 

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