The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 46

1 1 Cj 0 She Atlanta amirnal AM) CONSTITUTION MAY 24, 1 990 PRO FOOTBALL: SUPER BOWL XXVIII With bid in hand, Atlanta task force gears up specific plans for game ByLenPasquarelli Staff writer IRVING, Texas After helping to spearhead the presentation that resulted in the most lopsided final ballot since NFL owners began voting on Super Bowl sites, Georgia Dome general manager Khalil Johnson planned on sleeping in this morning. "This means I can go home without sneaking back into the city. And it means maybe I can go into work a half-hour later than usual," said an exuberant Johnson after the NFL handed the 1994 game to Atlanta Wednesday. Though much of the preparations prints, NFL architectural consultant Jerry Anderson of San Francisco has begun to map out work areas for media and league personnel. NFL director of special events Jim Steeg, who visited Atlanta in February to meet with Host Committee officials in advance of the city's bid, won't be a frequent visitor, but he will stay in close contact with Johnson, monitoring preparations.

Johnson, who was part of an Atlanta delegation that visited New Orleans to study the city preparing for Super Bowl XXIV last January, plans to observe Super Bowl XXV this season in Tampa. "Actually, if it could be worked out, are done, Dan Graveline, executive director of the Georgia World Congress Center, said a full-time committee must be organized during the next few months, and someone ideally with experience organizing past Super Bowls must be hired. "Really, the production of the game itself is no mystery," he said. "It's the allied events the halftime show, possible parades, parties that you have to worry about." The most critical element is completion of the Georgia Dome, scheduled to open in August 1992. But, even with the facility little more than a few concrete slabs and pages of blue happen." City officials were excited that the game would lure business to the city not necessarily connected to sports.

"The Super Bowl," said Georgia Dome director of marketing Dennis Berkholtz, "is a pretty nice cornerstone to put down." Gov. Joe Frank Harris pledged the state's support of the game- "What a day, huh? he said. "This is just great Now, if we can just get the Falcons into the Super Bowl by then." Wednesday's winning bid should be another factor in increasing Falcons season tickets sales for 1990, already up by 2,000 over this time a year ago. I'd like to volunteer my services to the people there," said Johnson." You can listen all you want when people tell you what it takes to put on a Super Bowl. But you can't beat first-hand knowledge." The city's biggest cheerleader Wednesday was Mayor Maynard Jackson, who began envisioning an NBA All-Star game, ACC Tournament and the Olympics in the Dome.

"This is just the beginning," he said. "We're going to stage the greatest Super Bowl game ever. "Maybe somewhere there are people waiting for us to fall flat on our faces. Well, it's just not going to Mi. fxr r-i -Ti Falcons' Smith secures biggest win of career I 7 AO "cS-h -r wk 4 hE File LI Andy SharpStaff (Pofitjcal clout: Gov.

Joe Frank Harris (left), Mayor Maynard Jackson (center) stand beside Falcons owner Rankin Smith with commemorative T-shirts after Atlanta was named host city for the 1 994 Super Bowl. History of Super Bowl selections Super: Atlanta wins on 4th vote 1 11 .10 onSfl' Continued from CI 1,1 21 votes (three-quarters) on the first two By Glenn Sheeley Staff writer IRVING, Texas Rankin Smith Sr. was in tears Wednesday, but this time it wasn't from watching his football team. The Atlanta Falcons owner was overcome emotionally after his 27 peers awarded the 1994 Super Bowl to Atlanta. "It's a tremendous day for us," said Smith, who lobbied hard with his 27 colleagues, "but even more so it's a great day for Atlanta.

I'm just happy for my own town." Even with a $6.4 million bid package from the Atlanta Super Bowl Committee, worth more than the other three bid cities, Smith was considered the key to securing the game. "It's in Rankin's hands," said Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau president Ted Sprague as he waited nervously for the decision, "and that's the way it should be." "I'll be happier when we go 14-2," Smith said of the Falcons. Until then, this will be his biggest victory. The game was viewed as a reward to Smith from fellow owners for not moving his team for more money to a smaller TV market such as Jacksonville and for orchestrating the Georgia Dome project with public funds. "It's a tribute to him, without question," said Buffalo Bills general manager Bill Polian.

"It's a victory for both the city and Rankin," said Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell. "He's been a great owner and it's been a great franchise city." So strong was Smith's support that his pre-vote speech did not require the plea that Phoenix Cardinal owner Bill Bidwill needed in March to get the 1993 game for his city. "He Smith has stood up for myself and other people around the league many times when we needed help," said New York Giants owner Wellington Mara. "He's been a good league member." Posing with an Atlanta 1994 Super Bowl T-shirt, one of 144 produced by the Super Bowl Host Committee, Smith deemed it impossible to judge the exact scope of his influence. "I've got some good friends, but the other owners do, too," he said.

"I always felt secure about our position, but at the meeting this afternoon I was getting uptight You never know until it gets down to that final count." Smith's NFL seniority If political clout in the NFL is a factor of seniority, then Atlanta's winning Super Bowl XXVIII bid was served well by Falcons owner Rankin Smith standing in the league. Only eight owners, presidents or CEOs five of whom started in the old AFL can match Smith's 24 years in the league. A list of those men and the year in which they gained majority status in their team: "Joj" ballots, the low city is eliminated. Hugh Culverhouse son of Tampa Bay owner Hugh Culverhouse of-, fered strong support for Atlanta in a speech to the owners after his city fell out of contention. New Orleans and Miami tied behind Atlanta on the second ballot.

New Or-7t3 leans was eliminated on the third, Miami i (f on the fourth. Atlanta's bid comes with two strings attached by the NFL: No. Pate Site Comment I Jan. 15, 1967 Los Angeles Coliseum Pete Rozelle wanted big stadium and warm weath- er, and couldn't get Stanford or the Rose Bowl. II Jan.

14, 1968 Orange Bowl, Miami Back to the East Coast and warm weather and i the first sellout in Super Bowl history. iii Jan. 12, 1969 Orange Bowl, Miami Based on previous sellout, the Orange Bowl be- came the undisputed neutral, warm-weather site. Jan. 11, 1970 Tulane Stadium, New Orleans George Healy, editor of the Times-Picayune, was a big booster to get the game for the Crescent City.

Jan. 17, 1971 Orange Bowl, Miami Miami remained the East Coast spotlight city, pro- viding almost guaranteed weather and a sellout. vl Jan. 16, 1972 Tulane Stadium, New Orleans The game returned, aided by a promise of an artifi- cial surface alter a muddy Super Bowl IV. Vli Jan.

14, 1973 Los Angeles Coliseum The Coliseum was scaled for 92,000 seats and the playing field moved 1 5 yards more toward center. vl Jan. 13, 1974 Rice Stadium, Houston Houston Chamber of Commerce asked: Why go to New Orleans when you can come here? IX Jan. 12,1975 Tulane Stadium, New Orleans Delays in Superdome construction forced a switch lo Tulane Stadium less than a year before game. Jan.

18, 1976 Orange Bowl, Miami Miami had to fight to keep the game in one of the early years for hotel commitments to the NFL. XI Jan. 9, 1977 Rose Bowl, Pasadena In a different era, the league, at a 1975 meeting in Hawaii, actually solicited Pasadena for the game. XII Jan. 15, 1978 Superdome, New Orleans The first Super Bowl played indoors gave New Or- leans the perfect building in the ideal setting.

xl Jan. 21,1979 Orange Bowl, Miami Hotel shortages and deterioration of Miami Beach 1 properties cost Miami the game for 1 0 years. XTV Jan. 20, 1980 Rose Bowl, Pasadena SB XI success and 104,000 seats brought talk of going every other year to the Rose Bowl. XV Jan.

25, 1981 Superdome, New Orleans It was almost a given that the game would return as New Orleans left Houston behind. xvl Jan. 24, 1982 Silverdome, Pontiac, Mich. The old auto money and a plea from Detroit owner William Clay Ford put the game up north. XVII Jan.

30, 1 983 Rose Bowl, Pasadena Money counted for owners, who had an unwritten agreement to play games in Pasadena. XVIII Jan. 22, 1984 Tampa Stadium A great selling job by the same people who con- vinced the NFL to expand to Tampa in the 1 970s. Jan. 20, 1985 Stanford Stadium, Palo Alto, Calif.

Pete Rozelle sold owners, despite massive con- struclion necessary for stadium. XX Jan. 26, 1986 Superdome, New Orleans New Orleans had to bid with everyone else, but proximity and the facility sold well. XXI Jan. 25, 1987 Rose Bowl, Pasadena Philadelphia finished a close second, despite pos- sibility of sub-zero temperatures.

XXII Jan. 31, 1988 Jack Murphy Stadium, San Diego The late Gene Klein, former Chargers owner, held the owners hostage for 14 hours until he got it. XXIII Jan. 22, 1989 Joe Robbie Stadium, Miami Joe Robbie's reward for building his own stadium, the high-tech standard for all outdoor facilities. XXIV Jan.

28, 1990 Superdome, New Orleans It had been four years since the owners got to eat at Antoine'8 and the rotation was still in force. XXV Jan. 27, 1991 Tampa Stadium San Diego was close, but at the time was bidding for the silver anniversary game. XXVI Jan. 26, 1992 Melrodome, Minneapolis, Minn.

Vikings GM Mike Lynn called in his markers and got results, but current capacity is only 62,000. XXVII TBA, 1993 Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, Ariz. Phoenix owner Bill Bidwill convinced owners to by- pass a much bigger payday at Pasadena. XXVIII TBA, 1 994 Georgia Dome, Atlanta Owners promised a Super Bowl if city came through with domed stadium for Rankin Smith Sr. trine Atlanta super bowi Host uom-mittee was given a Sept.

1 deadline to solidify the Georgia Dome construction 'schedule, which entails securing the "guaranteed maximum price" to build the stadium (an estimated $150 million) from the Beers Construction team. The committee must also provide for a game-day minimum of between 10 and 20 more suites. The Atlanta bid's original pledge was for 56 suites. Stadium footings were poured at the Georgia Dome site at 7:45 a.m. Wednesday.

Dome officials expect a guaranteed maximum price from the Beers group by May 31 and do not anticipate it to vary greatly from the $150 million estimate. Although the league stressed to Atlanta that its award would be in jeopardy if the Sept. 1 date is not met, NFL com-' missioner Paul Tagliabue said, "They are confident they will meet that i deadline. "It's not a problem with us," said Georgia Dome marketing director Dennis Berkholtz. "I think it's very fair." Atlanta's was asked to submit three acceptable dates for the game in its pro- Landing Super Bowl '94 was viewed as a reward to Rankin Smith Sr.

for not moving his team to Jacksonville. Losing cities were hopeful until the end By Len Pasquarelli Staff writer IRVING, Texas Right up to the very end, the skeptics remained. Within a minute of NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue's widely expected announcement late Wednesday afternoon that Atlanta would play host to Super Bowl XXVIII in 1994, officials from two of the three other cities bidding for the game refused to believe that they would not be chosen by team owners. "I know people won't agree, but I still think they'll go with experience," said Warren Newton of the New Orleans Super Bowl Task Force, whose city has played host to the game a record seven times. "If they give it to Atlanta, they'd better have some type of contingency plan included," said Merrett Stierheim of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau, referring to the fact that Atlanta's bid revolved around a stadium, the Georgia Dome, that is in the infant stages of construction.

Only officials from Tampa, whose bid seemed half-hearted since the city is playing host to Super Bowl XXV next January," seemed willing to concede defeat. In fact, Hugh Culverhouse the son of the Tampa Bay Bucs owner, offered a strong endorsement of the Atlanta bid before the owners' vote. "Assuming the dome is completed, I assume they'll do an excellent job with the game," said Barbara Casey of the Tampa Super Bowl Task Force. While Tagliabue's announcement brought whoops and hollers from a back corner of the room where the Atlanta Super Bowl Host Committee had gathered, the verdict drew sighs, grimaces and frowns from representatives of Miami and New Orleans. Miami officials seemed particularly upset.

Their city had made a last-minute surge, due in part to some hard lobbying from Philadelphia Eagles owner and Super Bowl Site Selection Committee chairman Norman Braman, who owns several automobile dealerships in the Miami area. "If we were comparing apples and apples, I think our bid was better," said Stierheim. "But for whatever reason, politics or whatever, we ended up comparing apples and oranges. I think a lot of owners came here with their minds already made up. We knew we weren't coming in here as the favorite." Even as New Orleans Mayor Sidney Barthelemy was congratulating Atlanta counterpart Maynard Jackson, Newton was vowing that the city's task force would begin preparing for its next Super Bowl run.

posal. The likely date for the game is Wellington Mara, N.Y. Giants 1930 K.S. "Bud" Adams, Houston 1960 Lamar Hunt, Kansas City 1960 Ralph Wilson, Buffalo 1960 William Clay Ford, Detroit 1961 Art Modell, Cleveland 1961 Leon Hess, N.Y, Jets 1963 Al Davis, L.A. Raiders 1966 Rankin Smith Atlanta 1966 Feb.

6. The Super Bowl is estimated to bring an economic impact of $150 million, with 85,000 visitors using 30,000 hotel rooms, 15,000 rental cars, 100 buses and 900 taxis. Atlanta's bid presentation included a seven-minute video co-hosted by TNT sportscaster Bob Neal and former Fal- cons kicker Mick Luckhurst, followed by remarks from Gov. Joe Frank Harris, At- lanta Mayor Maynard Jackson and Rankin Smith. The Atlanta bid to the NFL was valued at about $2.6 million in cash and $3.8 million in "in-kind" ser-" vices.

Included in the enticements were 900 free room nights for NFL staff, 100 percent of the net game-day program sales, free Georgia Dome rental for one week, 6,304 club seats and 2,484 suite seats available for premium pricing, free use of the stadium club on game day, free hotel rooms and buses for the competing teams for one week. Smith played an influential role, convincing his fellow owners in recent weeks that the Dome project was sound and that the August 1992 completion was realistic. Smith's assurance was complemented by a favorable report from San Francisco architect Jerry Anderson. Harris and Jackson said the bid could enhance the city's attempt to secure the 1996 Olympic Games. "It's a status symbol," said Harris.

"The Super Bowl will identify Atlanta and Georgia around the world." "If we're going to be on the world stage," said Jackson, "we have to play in the big leagues and have the big leagues come to us. Atlanta's an important city. We're on almost everybody's list." "It's an anchor," Georgia Dome general manager Khalil Johnson said of the bid. "We can use it to show other special events that we're a real player." Luckhurst booted By Glenn Sheeley Staff writer IRVING, Texas After worrying for weeks whether New Orleans was going to throw in a "kicker" to spice its Super Bowl bid, Atlanta officials threw one out at the last minute. Former Falcons placekicker Mick Luckhurst said Wednesday he had "no comment" about being dropped the night before as emcee for the Atlanta Super Bowl Host Committee's bid presentation to the NFL owners.

In a decision initiated by Falcons owner Rankin Smith Luckhurst, co- as Atlanta's emcee host of the committee's video with TNT sportscaster Bob Neal that was shown to the owners, was replaced as emcee because of fears that his presence would have a negative impact. Luckhurst was a players union activist in the 1987 NFL strike. The substitute was Ted Sprague, president of the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau. Smith paged Luckhurst Tuesday night at the Atlanta airport and told him that he was being replaced and need not fly to Dallas. Luckhurst performed on the host committee's video free of charge.

"I think you do anything you can to eliminate any negatives that might affect the presentation," Smith said..