Commissioner Tagliabue Press ConferenceLeague Meeting, Jacksonville, FLMay 26, 2004PT: We wrapped up our meeting today discussing a number of different subjects, some business and some football. I’ll give you a quick recap on the Special Committee on League Economics which we had set up at the March meeting. I identified the members of the committee. It will be 12 members altogether, chaired by Bob McNair, and Wayne Weaver will be one of the owners as well as 10 others. And we can give you the names of those owners later on. We had a short report on our international business, which centers on Canada, Mexico, Europe, and Japan. We’re also expanding our efforts in China. We had announced the Super Bowl contract with Shanghai TV and we’re hoping that we can play an American Bowl game in Shanghai or Beijing at some point and it can lead up to the Olympics over there. I also reported briefly on our activities in NFL Europe where I was a couple of weeks ago. We have the upcoming World Bowl game there in about two weeks. We confirmed with the teams that the practice squad for the regular season will be expanded from five players to eight under an agreement that we worked out with the Players Association. And we talked a bit about the selection of future Super Bowls, which would begin with 2009. As you know, Arizona was the last city that was awarded the 2008 Super Bowl. We’ll be having a meeting of our Super Bowl Advisory Committee this fall, before our fall league meeting, to talk about the candidate cities. Woody Johnson of the New York Jets made a presentation on behalf of a Super Bowl in the proposed stadium on Manhattan’s west side and we’ll be confirming to Governor Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg that that will certainly get consideration in the next 12-15 months. The likelihood is that we’ll make one or more presentations to the owners by next spring with respect to the location of future Super Bowl games that would begin with 2009 and will look ahead to 2010 and beyond. So either at the March or May meeting next year, the likelihood is that we’ll have Super Bowl presentations and make at least one decision. On the upcoming Super Bowl in Jacksonville, we updated the membership on the planning for the Super Bowl here. And we also updated the membership on our planning for Kickoff Weekend for this upcoming season. We introduced here our Super Bowl 39 theme, which is “Building Bridges.” This will be used to help us guide the way Super Bowl week is presented here in Jacksonville and also presented to the entire country. It reflects the literal Jacksonville landscape with the many bridges here that unite this community and it’s an element that we had included earlier in the Super Bowl 39/Jacksonville logo. It’s a theme that runs through a lot of what we do as a league, uniting people with the passion for our sport, bringing communities together. So building bridges is not only something that reflects how the Jacksonville community operates, but we think it reflects what the Super Bowl will mean to this community and what NFL football and a Super Bowl means to the whole nation. We will use this theme during the season in appropriate ways, beginning with the NFL Kickoff, which will be shaped to bridge the beginning of the season to the Super Bowl in Jacksonville. With this year’s Kickoff Weekend, we’re starting a new tradition, which will be holding our season opening Kickoff event at the home site of the Super Bowl champion, in this instance the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro. So we’ll have on the ground Kickoff night and Kickoff Week events in New England, and we’ll also have Kickoff events here in Jacksonville. And they’ll be linked, which will be a symbolic way of bridging from the opening of the season, focusing on the rematch of the AFC Championship Game last year -- Indianapolis at New England -- to Jacksonville, which is where this year’s Super Bowl game will be played. We think this is a great way to keep the focus on the game, the top teams in the league, and the great athletes we have, and of course that matchup will feature Peyton Manning and Tom Brady and so many others. The evening will include a one-hour, nationally televised show on ABC from 8-9 PM Eastern Time that will celebrate a number of things. It will celebrate last year’s Super Bowl champion Patriots, the opening of the season, Jacksonville as the upcoming Super Bowl city, and tributes to our military services, including Pat Tillman. The show will also include some musical elements that will probably come from both locations -- New England and Jacksonville. That’s something we’re working on. Other NFL clubs will also be tied into Kickoff Weekend with their own local elements. Miami did that last year, just to take one example, when we opened the season in Washington, and we expect a number of clubs will be expanding on that for the Thursday preceding Sunday opening games. We’re working with the Jaguars, with the Jacksonville Super Bowl Host Committee, and with the mayor on all these activities. We’re also not only focusing on the Super Bowl, but on Kickoff Week. We think the Super Bowl will be very unique. Obviously it’s the first time we’re doing it here in Jacksonville, but some of the unique elements will include the cruise ships. We’ll have a number of different venues for Super Bowl-related events. The Friday night party will be at the Equestrian Center here. We’ll be using Metro Park. We’ll be partnering with the PGA Tour Headquarters here. Tim Finchom spoke to me several years ago when I was a guest at a Jaguars game about his interest in partnering on the Super Bowl. Through Wayne Weaver and others here, we’re working on that. Veterans Memorial Arena, the Performing Arts Center, and other venues will be a key part of our Super Bowl week events. The Super Bowl is going to recognize the important presence in Jacksonville of the military. Obviously that was done last night with the visit of the owners and team executives to the carrier Kennedy. I think everyone felt that that was not just the appropriate way to get started here in Jacksonville but a very fitting tribute to the people who are really doing the courageous and difficult things in our society, which are our service men and women. As for the process of managing all of these events, we’ve made internal changes. Partly driven by changes in our staffing, but they go beyond the Super Bowl. Steve Bornstein will be producing a one-hour Kickoff show and he’ll also be responsible for the entertainment elements of the Super Bowl. Phil Guarascio, who has been with us on a consulting basis for several years, will also be working with Steve on the theming of the Kickoff, theming of the season and the theming of the Super Bowl, and his people are ready. We had a number of good meetings with representatives of the Jacksonville Super Bowl Host Committee to coordinate. And of course Jim Steeg will continue in his role as the person who makes it all work on the ground, not just for the Kickoff but for the participating team arrangements, lodgings, accommodations, and all the other fan services and business partner services that go into the Super Bowl. We’re approaching this game with a lot of energy, with an organizational structure that builds on what we’ve done in the past. What underlies all of this is the desire and the goal that as we go forward with the Super Bowl we have an opportunity to give each game even more of a distinctive feel and a distinctive signature than has been the case in the past. Jacksonville, in that sense, is path-setting but we expect to be continuing that with Detroit. Next year we’ll again be playing the game in a location for the first time in more than 20 years and we’ll have an opportunity to think in a fresh way about Detroit as a host city. And of course a big difference there is the game will be at Ford Field rather than the Silverdome out in Pontiac. So what we’re doing this year will carry on to future years. Wayne Weaver’s here and I will be glad to take any questions on any subjects, and I’m sure he’d be glad to take any questions about the Kickoff in Jacksonville in September as well as the Super Bowl. Q: On whether there was skepticism about Jacksonville hosting Super Bowl XXXIX … I never sensed the skepticism. If there was skepticism Jacksonville wouldn’t have been awarded the Super Bowl. Our people don’t vote for things that they’re skeptical about. They vote for things they’re enthusiastic about. Right from day one, I’ve had the sense that people have felt this was going to be an excellent place to play the game. They felt it was an excellent way for the league to say thanks to the fans’ for their support of the Jaguars so robustly from the beginning. And to say thanks to the business community, the political leadership who’ve given us a terrific franchise here. So my answer is no, I’ve seen enthusiasm from day one and it’s building. On the Super Bowl being played in Jacksonville for the first time … A lot of things you do in life are for the first time. I’ve said many times, if you look at the track record of the Super Bowl, in Pete Rozelle’s mind, it was initially a Los Angeles/Miami phenomenon. Then it went to New Orleans, then Houston, and it’s grown. But every city where we’ve played it has been a league city, and they’ve all been terrific cities and terrific Super Bowls. On the New York Giants hosting a Super Bowl … The Giants are working with the New Jersey authorities and they have major renovations under discussion where they would bring Giants stadium up to being a state-of-the-art stadium. They also expect to have a Super Bowl proposal that would relate to that stadium once they get their arrangements done over there. On Los Angeles being included in Super Bowl planning … That’s one of the things we’re going to discuss with our advisory committee this fall. We had discussed that about 15 months ago. We had reported at one point to the membership that the advisory committee felt that Los Angeles needed to be part of our Super Bowl planning whether or not we had a team there. I’m sure that subject will be taken up again with the committee. On any concerns the league has about Super Bowl XXXIX … I don’t have concerns. I’ve got issues that need to be resolved. Every time you do something, you want to do it right, but I think we’re taking it very systematically. We’ve had early planning and now we’re into the process of fine tuning. So I don’t have concerns, no. You always want to make sure things are done well. And that’s where we are. Q: What are some of the issues? The issues in my mind are really to make certain that since we have many events concentrated in the center of the city -- the NFL Experience, the game itself and other events -- and then we have fans and business partners with their employees and dealers and others staying in different venues around the city, that we pay enough attention to those other venues in addition to the core of the city. We had the same issue last year in Houston. We had some groups of fans and key business sponsors staying in Galveston. So it’s not anything different. The specific venues are different, but it’s a similar type of challenge that we had last year so that when people come in they’re served where they are without having to get into cars and buses to do things. But those issues we also had in L.A. many years ago. Anytime you have a spread out area, you have that. About the only Super Bowl city where you don’t have that challenge is New Orleans where much of the city is within walking distance. Although as the game has grown there and some of their hotels have proliferated to the perimeter of the city, you get some of those challenges there too. On unique challenges Jacksonville presents … You have to have people fly in for the game, you have to have people rent cars, you have to have people in hotel rooms, and all of those things are ordinary course activities. Those are not unique challenges. Those are things you manage. The cruise ships are the one element that’s unique here, but there’s been a lot of planning for that. A lot of detail work has gone into it with the cruise ship industry. Of course they’re professionals. They’re in the travel and tourism business and similar ships have been used for other events. So even there it’s not anything that’s precedent setting. People are working off past experiences with other events, including the Olympics. On the facilities in Jacksonville … I was down here in December for a game and I took a tour with Wayne Weaver and Jim Steeg of all the venues and saw all the new facilities. I was down here again in early April at Ponte Vedra and had a chance to visit with some local people, talk about some of the new venues, and saw how some things have changed in Ponte Vedra. I know some of those hotels are going to be used for Super Bowl events. It’s the first time I’ve been here on Amelia Island in about ten years and there’s been a lot of development here. So everything I’ve seen just confirms the judgment that we made a good choice in coming here. These are some of the venues we talked about when we talked about the Super Bowl and, like I said, I hadn’t been here since 1993 or 1994 at Amelia Island and these are obviously world-class facilities. On where owners will stay in Jacksonville … I don’t really know where the owners are going to stay; I never know where the owners are going to stay. About the only owners I know about are the two who are in the game normally. I have dealings with them during Super Bowl week. I don’t know where I’m going to stay. Wherever someone tells me I’m staying I’m staying. I couldn’t tell you where I stayed at the last 8 or 9 Super Bowls. On owners’ and teams’ relationship with Jacksonville … Some of them have been in here on a regular basis, specifically the AFC owners and the teams that have been in the divisions that the Jaguars have been in, both pre- and post-realignment. But some of the owners go back here to the days when the American Football League All-Star Game was played in Jacksonville in the late 60’s. Coming in here, being together, talking about the game and then going out to the Kennedy last night, seeing what the St. Johns River is to the geography of the area and to the city and how it links out to the ocean, taking a ferry across … I think it was a very good example of a picture being a thousand words. And the presence of the military here -- the Jaguars have always recognized that constituency among their fans. I know they’ve had seats dedicated and had a real connection with the services, and many other teams are the same. San Diego was the same situation. We had a major Navy presence there as well as Camp Pendleton, the Marines and other things. So I think it was a good immersion in the beginning of the Kickoff, to build up to the Kickoff. On the Super Bowl XXXIX halftime show … The halftime show will be outanding. We’ve been talking internally with our own people, obviously Phil Guarascio and Steve Bornstein, about what we want to accomplish. We’ve been talking to David Hill at FOX. David did a fabulous job on the halftime show at the game right after 9/11, the game that had to be moved back one week, when we had the Boston Pops, the feature that included the former presidents, and the Aaron Copeland piece. David can really take the Super Bowl to a terrific level in terms of halftime entertainment as well as the pregame. So we feel really good about that. Steve Bornstein will be in charge on our side. He’ll be in charge of the entire production and he’ll be working with David. And Jim Steeg and Phil Guarascio will also be working on that because obviously part of it is a televised event but you don’t have something to televise until you get the logistics right in the stadium. On quality of Super Bowl XXXIX commercials … Yes, I’ve had some discussions with the networks about the quality of television advertising and told them that if there’s anything we can do that would be constructive in discussions with our sponsors that we’d like to do that. I think the whole industry is looking in one way or another at advertising. It’s changing in many different ways. So I have had some of those discussions with FOX and other networks. But for the most part that’s an issue they have to address under their standards and practices and it’s an issue that the advertisers and their agencies are addressing. More on content of advertising during Super Bowl XXXIX … As I said, we have talked about the content of advertising but those decisions are made by the advertisers, their agencies, and to some degree the networks, as the networks apply their standards and practices. But as I said, we told them we’d be glad to talk to some of our sponsors about advertising, and we’ve always done that. Generally we’re aware of how our sponsors are going to promote the relationship between, let’s say Pepsi and the NFL. And where we’re going to introduce football-themed elements, let’s say with Gatorade. So to the extent those kinds of sponsors are doing television advertising, we would have conversations about that with them or with the networks. On the NFL editing Super Bowl advertising spots … I don’t see that happening. I think it’s very unusual. There have been some stories written about the Academy Awards doing that. I think the genesis of that for the most part is that they’ve been concerned about the movie companies advertising in the Academy Awards show in a manner that might be perceived in some way as a conflict of interest because the show is selecting the best movie. So they have had some issues there about advertising content and standards that don’t generally apply to television but do apply to that unique show. On “Building Bridges” theme being included in other events throughout the season … In terms of the points that we’re emphasizing about teamwork, values of the NFL, tradition blended with innovation, working hard to succeed, inclusiveness, and diversity, those elements are part of the NFL and those elements are a big part of Jacksonville today. To that extent, we probably incorporate some of those values into our Thanksgiving Day games and other elements of the season. I am sure in one way or another to some extent we’ve had it already. We’ve had the “Join the Team” campaign in terms of public service which we did last year with Parade Magazine. Part of that theme was to join the team and unite your community around your NFL franchise and your players, coaches and other community leaders. We’ve had community quarterback awards that we give out. To some extent, where we’re already building bridges, that will be incorporated into what we’re doing. But the main focus here will be bridging from the Kickoff to the Super Bowl. On honoring Pat Tillman and servicemen and women overseas … What we’re going to be doing is continuing with the campaign on the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, which raises funds to support military families who’ve lost their spouses or parents in the conflict. We did that last year. I’m going to be at an event tonight with the Intrepid people in New York. There’s another event that Joe Browne will be attending tomorrow night. Most of our focus will be on the military families and the men and women and the services generally, trying to help with financial support and public visibility of their needs, and Pat Tillman will be one element of that. I think most of the symbolism for Pat Tillman will come from the Cardinals, who will probably retire his number 40. Q: Are you satisfied with the security procedures in the stadiums, not just for Super Bowl, but for regular season games? Yes, very much so. We’ve been emphasizing that. I had some internal meetings with our staff in February and told them that I thought we needed to make certain that we not only continue what we did for the last few years but that we do even more. And we’ve taken certain elements of our best practices and made them mandatory this year, including perimeter protection of all our stadiums. And we’re continuing to work on this. We’ve got some seminars coming up in the next several weeks. I think all the owners really are giving this priority because we’ve had discussions with the owners both at the March meeting and again here today. On China hosting an American Bowl … I think that idea came about partly because of Chinese television and the Chinese government expressing an interest in our game. The Chinese Ambassador came to visit me in New York some months ago and talked about an American Bowl game in Shanghai or Beijing. I think a lot of it is driven by the buildup to the Olympics there. It’s similar in some ways to what happened when the Olympics were held in Sydney. We played an American Bowl game there. I think the Chargers and the Broncos played down there. So I think this is a new development, and obviously with the growth of the Chinese economy and the liberalization of their society there will be more and more entertainment and sports, so it’s a new development for us certainly. I think it would be good if Wayne would come up and comment on some of the questions that have been asked about venues for the Super Bowl, where we are in the planning process, and any challenges or opportunities that he might see and take some questions. Wayne Weaver: First of all, we’re very excited about the initiative the league has taken of branding the season from the Super Bowl winner city to the culmination of the Super Bowl in Jacksonville. And we believe the “Building Bridges” theme gives us a wonderful opportunity throughout the season in our community to have events and promote our season. So we’re excited about that initiative. We’re fortunate that we’ve had almost three years to plan for this Super Bowl. We’re much further along than most host cities. So there’s no question people were surprised last night at the event on the Kennedy at what a wonderful venue it was. When we undertake an initiave here in Jacksonville, we usually do it over the top and clearly that’s our objective for Super Bowl XXXIX. Q: There was a Salute to Houston on the Monday before the Super Bowl that went over very well, and they brought in former athletes. Is there anything being discussed along those lines? Weaver: Chuck Watson, who was the chairman of the Host Committee in Houston, spoke to Peter Rummel and Tom Pettway and said what a great event that was. We’re kind of brainstorming ideas now that might parallel that. We like that idea and it certainly is something that is under consideration. Q: With the PGA Tour being headquartered here and the ATP and NASCAR down the road, do you try to get those people involved in any way? Weaver: Certainly Tim Finchem, as the Commissioner said, has been a big advocate of the Super Bowl here in Jacksonville and has offered the use of the PGA Tour, the stadium club. We’re talking about a media event out at the 17th green island to give you guys a chance to really test your skills. So we’re going to do something like that. We’re talking about a VIP golf tournament on Sunday morning where we will have some high profile players come in along with some of our major sponsors and owners to play. So the PGA Tour certainly is going to be a big part of that. I don’t think that we have any partnership with NASCAR. On plans to showcase Jacksonville during Thursday night’s opening game … Weaver: That’s under consideration right now. What we’re doing, as the Commissioner alluded to, is having an hour show on FOX to kick off the season on September 9 at the Patriots’ stadium, and at some point they’ll cut away to an event we’ll have here in Jacksonville. It will be a major event but we’re in the early planning stages of that. But we see that as a major opportunity to showcase Jacksonville and be on the big stage of national television. We’ll do something very special. It’ll be an opportunity. “Building Bridges” clearly is a great connection to our city since we are a city of bridges. But it gives you legs to do all sorts of things in terms of building bridges in the community, in terms of diversity, economic development, all kinds of opportunities, and we’ll take advantage of that both as a football team and as a city. One of the things you heard Mayor Peyton mention last night is his strong commitment to the Super Bowl and to making sure that we give all of our resources to make this event special. On the visit to the carrier Kennedy the night before the league meeting … Weaver: I think the thing that came out of that is it was just a great way to pay tribute to our military. Kennedy’s being deployed the first week of June and anyone that had a chance to sit down with these young sailors and men and women and talk about their jobs on the carrier and the sacrifices they make, you just have to come away feeling good about our military and what they’re doing and the sacrifices and commitment they make for our country. On Thursday night opener events … PT: About two months ago, we had a super dinner at the Douglas Anderson School for the Arts, and Wayne and I have talked about that. I was here with a business group and John Friars, who as the superintendent of the school hosted us, and it was really a phenomenal school for the arts. And I’ve seen similar things with schools of the arts like Julliard in Lincoln Center and so on and Wayne and I have talked about that kind of venue, maybe not for the Thursday night dinner, but for another event, and a performance by those young kids. So there a lot of things that I think are really exciting and can be very special, not just for the league and the people who come to the game but for the whole community. Weaver: I think those of you who had a chance to hear the boys and girls last night know how outstanding they are. The Ritz Theater is one of our historical African-American theaters here that’s been restored. February is African-American history month. So we’ll do something special down here and get these kids involved, like the kids from Douglas Anderson. We’ve got a lot of special things here in Jacksonville that people don’t realize and haven’t discovered, so we’ll make sure that they do. On plans for the Saturday night before the Super Bowl … Weaver: I think that night is traditionally the big Taste of the NFL. There will be all kinds of special events from Thursday night through Saturday night. Q: Will the host city get more attention than ever before beginning with that Thursday night and moving throughout the season? Weaver: We think the way the Commissioner’s assigned the initiative to brand the season and Kickoff and the culmination of the Super Bowl in Jacksonville is going to allow us to do that. One of the things that we’ve kicked around is maybe to bring in the top quarterbacks around the league and try to see if Tom Brady will stand on a cruise ship playing shuffleboard saying, “This is where I want to be on February 6.” You have all kinds of opportunities to do things like that. What we really need to do now is flush out all of the ideas and see what makes sense and what works. *** |