by Fred Seely
Editorial Director
Jacksonville’s Super Bowl effort will offer T-shirts and hats, too. And the quick way to get yours is to join the “Jacksonville Super Bowl Club” for $49.95, plus $4.95 for shipping and handling.
Super Bowl Host Committee president Michael Kelly says this is a first-ever effort anywhere.
“People want to get involved,” he said, “and this is one way.”
For the fee, you’ll get a shirt, cap, license plate and an “official membership card.” You’ll also be invited to “Members Only Events” — as yet undetermined — between now and the 2005 game at Alltel Stadium.
Kelly pitched the plan Tuesday in an appearance before the Chamber’s Government Affairs Committee. About 40 attended at the Chamber building.
The “club” logo also was on display. It includes the game logo plus the phrase “Let the Voyage Begin,” a play on the Super Bowl’s plan to bring cruise ships into the St. Johns River to make up for the lack of hotel rooms here.
“It’s similar to Tampa,” added Kelly, who was president of that city’s most recent Super Bowl game. “We didn’t have enough in the Tampa area so we used 6,000 hotel rooms in Orlando. Cruise ships here, rooms in Orlando.”
Kelly said the National Football League will send officials here later this month for the first round of site inspections.
“They come down [from New York City] and get the lay of the land,” said Kelly. “They want to see the existing facilities and review what we plan to do. This is a crucial time. Since we are a first-time city [at hosting a Super Bowl,] they really want to make sure everything is going in the right direction.”
He said that the city’s size will be the biggest challenge.
“We’ll be the smallest market ever to have a Super Bowl,” Kelly said. “We need to get the accommodations up to an acceptable level, which we’ll do with cruise ships.
“We also need to take what we have downtown and compliment it. We can compare to Salt Lake City [which hosted the recent Winter Olympic Games] because they have a small downtown with minimal facilities for entertainment.”
Among other points:
• The Super Bowl Host Committee will have working subcommittees by year’s end. Volunteers will be needed and should use the website, www.jacksonvillesuperbowl.net, for information. The site, however, won’t be relaunched “until football season,” he said.
• He has over 800 resumes from job seekers. Most jobs won’t be available until nearer the game, but Kelly said he’ll have a full-time staff of 8-10 people before long. About 400 will be hired later.
• Anyone wishing to have NFL sanction for an event must be affiliated with a charity. Information will be on the website.
• Kelly will be showing an NFL film on last year’s game during his speaking engagements. His predecessor, Mike Weinstein, only had a local film showing the benefits of getting a game. Weinstein is now a mayoral candidate but is still on the speaking circuit for the game; he’ll be at the Chamber’s North Council next Thursday.