Super Bowl committee boss happy with progress

DALLAS -- Bill Lively rolled up his left pants leg to the knee, showing off the cuts and scrapes he suffered recently climbing Pagoda Mountain in Colorado.

"And that's my good leg," said the 66-year-old president of the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee.

He has ligament problems in his right knee, which a doctor delicately described as "old mountain climber's knee."

"The doctor told me to wear a brace and not climb as high," Lively said.

But that isn't Lively's style, whether he is tackling a mountain or preparations for Super Bowl XLV, which will be Feb. 6 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.

The North Texas effort has been one of the more ambitious Super Bowl undertakings, requiring the cooperation of four major cities and several smaller ones, and introducing initiatives such as the SLANT 45 children's service program and the three-date Super Bowl Concert Series.

With a little more than five months before Super Bowl Sunday, Lively says all the marks have been hit. But he is not resting on his laurels. If anything, he is worried more about staff burnout than about complacency.

"We had a meeting about a month ago," he said, "and I told them we weren't going to introduce anything new from now on."

The announcement, he added, was met by applause and probably a sense of relief.

"We feel good about where we are at this time," Lively said. "Now, we have to consider every situation and look at every issue and prepare for the worst-case scenario and what can go wrong. This is our first time, and we're always thinking, 'What is it that we don't know?'"

Officials from the National Football League, as well as vendors hired by the league, have praised the host committee for uniting the region and being ahead of the curve in planning.

Lively is grateful but understands that the process will be amped up now that the football season is about to begin.

"Our theme has been to always do the right thing and set a good model for the next Super Bowl we have here," he said.

Here's a look at the status of key elements promised in the region's Super Bowl bid:

Sponsorship

Not even a flagging economy has dampened the enthusiasm that Lively encounters at speaking engagements around North Texas. The host committee has raised about $25 million of its $40 million budget, with assets of $4.5 million still available to sell to sponsors.

The balance will come from state funds, which will also serve as a contingency against unexpected costs.

"The NFL could make requests that would make us exceed our budget," Lively said.

Volunteers from businesses will join the host committee's task force to raise the balance in a sponsorship drive beginning Sept. 8. Packages have been revised with lower thresholds to make them more affordable.

There is enough excitement, Lively said, that the sponsorship goals would have been reached soon after the game was awarded to North Texas if it hadn't been for the economic downturn.

He also said that the state comptroller's allocation of $31.2 million from the major-events trust fund is a godsend that makes hosting major events viable.

The money, part of which will pay for transportation and security in the four major North Texas cities, is what Lively calls the equivalent of "seed funding."

Concert series

The next big event on the host committee's calendar is XLV Countdown Live, the third and final installment of the concert series, Sept. 10 at Cowboys Stadium.

More than 30,000 tickets have been sold, most for only $25. It will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Cowboys and Emmitt Smith's recent induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It will be headlined by Tim McGraw and feature Van Cliburn and the University of North Texas Symphony.

Lively anticipates that all 37,000 available seats will be sold by next week.

"The Cowboys gave us the parking for $10 and $15," Lively said. "We wanted to keep it consistent with the price point of the tickets."

He said it will be an eclectic audience of current and former Cowboys season-ticket holders, concert series subscribers, families and more than 2,000 service members, who will be guests of companies buying blocks of tickets.

Lively said that with the likelihood of 48,000 fans attending the Rangers-Yankees game at Rangers Ballpark that night, the two events will produce the largest combined audience in two stadiums.

"It will be hectic, but manageable," he said. "Arlington is ready for this and anticipated it when Cowboys Stadium was built."

Other programs

The official announcement of details of the NFL's Youth Education Town, which will be built in Arlington to help disadvantaged youths, will be made at the State Fair of Texas in October, Lively said. That is also when the chairman of the youth center's board will be named. The chairman will oversee fundraising and the business plan.

Membership in the SLANT 45 community outreach program for North Texas elementary-school children has risen to 18,000, representing 42 school districts and 26 cities. Lively said he expects more than 23,000 kids to participate.

About 6,000 people have registered to be Super Bowl volunteers, according to Amanda Whitelaw, volunteer services manager for the host committee. The favorite shifts include the airports, the NFL Experience in Dallas and hotel welcome desks. The deadline to register is Oct. 31.

Pete Alfano, 817-390-7985