by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
The City Council’s special Super Bowl Committee will meet for the first time Monday, and Council vice president and committee chair Kevin Hyde said it will “hopefully put everyone on the same page.”
“The Super Bowl is the signature event happening here next year and we have to be sure we execute it properly and maximize on all of the long term economic opportunities,” said Hyde. “I’m hoping at the meeting we can start laying the ground work for what we, as a Council, need to be doing for the Super Bowl.”
Hyde expected no legislation would be introduced or reviewed by the committee at any time before or after the Super Bowl in February.
“I wouldn’t think so. That’s not really its purpose,” he said. “If it wasn’t already in place we would have done something similar to the Super Bowl overlay zone. However, I think this committee will probably be serving two primary purposes, one of which is to make sure we address any potential problems as they come up.”
In addition to representatives from the mayor’s office, Hyde said Super Bowl Host Committee president Michael Kelly has been asked to give a “status update” and an “updated Super Bowl Host Committee budget on those matters requiring City expenditures.”
“Specifically,” he said, “we need to know the amount spent or budgeted to be spent by the City to date, as well as, any anticipated budgetary shortfall.”
The Host Committee confirmed Kelly would appear before the Council, though were unsure of specific talking points.
“But actually, we’ll probably do most of our work after the game has been played,” said Hyde. “That’s when I’d expect the Council to be more proactive and work with the Chamber to see what kind of economic opportunities they’ve identified for the City.”
Hyde said the meeting would probably last no longer than 45 minutes, but at subsequent meetings, durations would fluctuate.
“We have a tentative idea of what we’ll be discussing at our meetings,” he said, “but again, that may change as we get more information.”