Superbowl LVII, Phoenix, Arizona - Philadelphia Eagles vs. Kansas City Chiefs

 Now that the holidays are past us, it's time to continue our volunteering at Sunshine Acres Children's Home and also for the Superbowl in Phoenix, Arizona.  

Signs went up on the tall buildings in downtown Phoenix.  

 

 

We were hoping to find a way to volunteer at the stadium on game day but that didn't materialize so we instead volunteered for the Host Committee at events leading up to the big day.

Our first event was to attend some training and pick up our uniform shirt, jacket, and hat.  We took the train from Mesa to downtown Phoenix and attended the training.

 

 

Including 2023, this is the 4th time that Phoenix has hosted the Super Bowl.  The state hosted the big game in 1996, 2007 and 2015.

By the Numbers
$720+ million in Economic Impact - 2015
$30+ million in Fundraising - 2015
$2+ million Community Non-Profit Grants - 2015 & 2023
20,000+ Hotel rooms in the Block - 2015 & 2023

Media:
6,000+ Media Attendees
160 million+ TV Viewers
190 Countries broadcast the game

Fans:
5,000 Volunteer opportunities
100,000 Visitors to Arizona
200,000 NFL Super Bowl Experience Attendees
1,000,000 Super Bowl Experience Attendees

Then we had a whole Superbowl Host Team Orientation at the Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix.

Spike, the mascot

Different people spoke to the volunteers.....

Caribe Devine, Channel 12 News Anchor

Jay Parry, President and CEO of the Host Committee

Larry Fitzgerald of the Arizona Cardinals sent a video message

Special Olympics of Arizona received a
$100,000 check from the Host Committee

David Rousseau, Board Chair of the Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee

As you can imagine, security is a huge concern at the Super Bowl.  We also learned about human trafficking which is a problem at all host cities during the Super Bowl.

Major Jennifer Borquez, Director of Actic
 (Arizona Counter Terrorism Information Center)

Jordan Clark, Vice President of CELL (Conterterrorism Education Learning Lab)

Akil Davis, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Phoenix Field Office

Trevor Bobb, Director of Volunteers

There was some entertainment by the Phoenix Sun's cheerleaders

and these guys doing stunts

NFL Green

The next day the Host Committee was sponsoring a clean up event at the Lower Salt River so we went and picked up trash.

Lower Salt River

The countdown to the Super Bowl includes an effort by NFL Green to help clean up part of the host city.

What does your footprint look like?
During the summer of 2022, The Mesa Ranger District and their River Ranger Volunteers removed dozens of bags of trash from the Lower Salt River EVERY weekend between May and August.  Countless pounds of trash were removed and these 541 shoes were set aside.

Before the trash picking up began, there were messages from various people from the Host Committee, Arizona Cardinals, a retired military group called Force Blue, and Forest Rangers.  Some of the people we saw the night before.

Force Blue Leader

Yuck, look at all those Mylar balloons.

In 2017, a friendly competition started between 4 Range Technicians in the Tonto Basin and Payson, and they collected nearly 84 Mylar balloons in 3 months.  Every year since, the Payson Ranger District has held an internal competition between the Fuels Program, Wildlife and Range staff.

This cactus is a result of their 2019 competition.  In just a few months, 219 were collected on the Payson Ranger District alone.

While we all love a good contest we would much rather not look out into the desert or forest and see shiny balloons stuck on trees, waving in the breeze.  Or worse, we would rather not find them in the stomachs of deceased wildlife or their strings wrapped around their legs and wings.  Enjoy your celebrations, but please, take your balloons home with you.

 

Results!
Conservation experts teamed up to make a positive impact on the Lower Salt River in the Tonto National Forest. For the largest community volunteer clean up event ever implemented by NFL Green, hundreds of community volunteers removed debris from the banks of the Lower Salt River, while special ops retired military veterans from FORCE BLUE removed invasive apple snails from the riverbed, and kayakers assisted in the water by removing apple snail egg clusters and debris from the waterway. Invasive apple snails are threatening the ecosystem of this popular recreation site. 

Clean Up Crew - we're in there somewhere

One of our perks for volunteering was we each received two tickets to the NFL Experience at the convention center.  We invited our friends Randy and Kathy to join us.  The Experience was held during the week before the game.  

 

 

 

Kathy is from Kansas City and me being from Philadelphia it was a fun friendly rivalry as both our teams made it into the Super Bowl.

The experience took up several floors of the convention center.  There was so much to see and do and so many people trying to do them!  There were a lot of photo opportunities.

Entering the event

 

Helmets from every team in the NFL

 

Randy and I gave it a try to kick a field goal!

 

 

(It is harder than it looks!)

Video if you want to see us in action: 

Randy:  https://youtu.be/WIRwmPs-p3w
Nancy:  https://youtu.be/Iq1EjG1TvBw

Military Trailer

 

Kathy writing a message to our troops.

Pickelball Courts

The place was very crowded!

Look at these cleats that players wear and I assume auction off for charity.

Jordan Davis of the Philadelphia Eagles with Camp Sunshine

My favorite, McDonalds cleats by Skyy Moore of the Kansas City Chiefs

 

Trent McDuffie's cleats saluting California Fire

There was a field for kids to play football

The Navy had an area that all four of us got in and cameras swirled all around us and we captured this funny photo of Randy.

Los Angeles Rams Super Bowl Ring which opens

Our friend, Randy, is a Rams fan

Kathy giving us her meanest look

Bench Press

Vertical Jump

Run

Super Bowl Trivia Contest

Total Access sponsored by Snickers were they
gave out free snack size of dark chocolate snickers candy!

People waiting in line for a player's autograph

 

 

 

Officially licensed paint colors of the NFL sold by Lowes. 

Bedazzled helmets with Swarovski Crystals

 

 

 

DJ in the house!

2018 Super Bowl Champs!

 

 

They had a sample of the ring presented to the winners for each of the 51 years of the Super Bowl.  Here are some of them.  Notice how much bigger they get as the years go on.

Superbowl I from the 1966-1967 Season Played on January 15, 1967

Bart Starr's ring

Joe Namath, 1986 New York Jets

Larry Csonka's ring from 1972

Lynn Swann's ring

Terry Bradshaw, 3rd Steelers Super Bowl Win

Terry Bradshaw, 4th Steelers Super Bowl Win

Joe Montana

Jerry Rice

Troy Aikman

John Elway

Tom Brady, 2nd New England Patriot's win

Steelers 5th Super Bowl win

Tom Brady with 5th New England Patriot's Super Bowl Win

Nick Foles 2018 Super Bowl win for the Eagles

New England Patriot's 6th Super Bowl Win

Patrick Mahomes

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Los Angeles Rams (the ring that opens to display a stadium inside)

When you think there can't be anything else to do with the Super Bowl they come up with a cake making contest!

 

 

 

There was also some memorabilia items for sale.

The first ever NFL Logo helmet hand painted
by Fred Gehrke in 1947

Souvenirs for sale

Just $200 for a Game Ball

Finally it was time for our volunteering events.  There were two "Experiences" available.  The one at the Convention Center which was a paid event hosted by the NFL and then the Free event where we volunteered at Hance park in downtown.

Our role was to be a presence, answer questions and just make sure people were having a good time.  There was a whole schedule of entertainment with concerts at night but we worked the afternoon shifts so we could get out of town by dark. 

 

 

 

Concert Stage

CBS Sports booth

Food trucks and tables for eating

Games

 

 

Local marching band providing entertainment

There was about an even amount of Chief and Eagles fans.  Here are some of my fellow Eagles fans at the event.

 

There was a nacho making contest

The Super Bowl in Phoenix was a huge coming-out party for Waymo, whose driverless vehicles transported fans from the airport to downtown venues.

Why it matters: For many Super Bowl visitors, it will be their first opportunity to ride in a driverless car.

• Phoenix is the only place where Waymo robotaxis are available to the general public; San Francisco and Los Angeles will come next.
• For Waymo, it's an opportunity to stress-test its service during what will be one of the city's busiest weekends of the year.
• It's also a way to keep drunk drivers off the road on Super Bowl Sunday, when officials typically see a spike in deadly crashes.

Driving the news: Waymo is partnering with the Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee to incorporate autonomous taxis into fan experiences the week before and during the Big Game.

• Visitors (and locals) who download the Waymo app can summon the "Waymo Driver" in an autonomous Jaguar I-PACE to pick them up from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport via the 44th Street and Washington PHX Sky Train Station.
• They can also hail a robotaxi for rides in and around downtown.

Waymo Car (driver-less)

We saw one of these cars in operation while walking in town.  We were walking across a street at an intersection and the Waymo car approached and stopped.  Normally I make sure to make eye contact with the driver before I cross the street and that's when I noticed that there was no driver!  Weird!

One of the many entertainers on the concert stage during the multi-day event.

 

 

 

The game was actually played on the west side of Phoenix at State Farm Stadium, in Glendale, Arizona

After attending and volunteering for events leading up to the big game, we were able to stay home and watch it from the comfort of home and all our snacks.

Unfortunately the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Philadelphia Eagles, 38–35

 

Halftime show: Rihanna
MVP: Patrick Mahomes, quarterback
Attendance: 67,827

And that was our Super Bowl LVII experience.  It was fun and we're glad we got involved.