Glendale — for the first time — will be an official sponsor of Super Bowl 57, when the city hosts the mega event in about 20 months.
The 2023 game will mark the third time the West Valley city will host a Super Bowl, at State Farm Stadium, 1 Cardinals Drive.
The Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee — a private, nonprofit corporation — in its run-up to the game networks with local communities in its capacity as official liaison between the NFL and regional efforts. Those efforts are funded through the sponsorships of participating stakeholders and partners.
Glendale this month joined the ranks of official partners when the City Council voted to approve a $1 million sponsorship agreement. The payment will be made in four installments between June 30 and September 2022, and will come from the city’s general fund.
“This is exactly how you get a seat at the table. You’re not invited to the table without this,” Councilmember Lauren Tolmachoff said. “We’re not going to get a return in a year probably on this investment, but I believe we’ll be rewarded on the investment over time, and so will our business community and so will our residents.”
Other Valley cities have signed on as sponsors through previous agreements. In 2020, Scottsdale signed on with a $1.21 million fee.
“Our community, and that certainly includes Glendale, has invested so much in the infrastructure of Arizona and the region to make hosting these events really part of the payoff,” Super Bowl Host Committee president Jay Parry said. “Everyone has invested so much: new hotels, new infrastructure. You think about what’s going on at the Phoenix airport.”
Glendale City Manager Kevin Phelps said at this month’s council meeting that the committee is looking to raise between $40 million and $50 million.
The sponsorship money will largely go toward supporting corporate site visits in the months leading up to the game. This month, the committee hosted the first official planning meeting with NFL representatives who visited venues, hotels and restaurants around the Valley, Parry noted.
The committee also will work with the city of Glendale for visiting media, who will be showcasing the game, the city, the Valley and the state leading up to and during the Super Bowl.
The 2015 game in Glendale featured more than 5,000 credentialed media members from around the world, and that game remains the most-watched broadcast in U.S. television history with 114.4 million viewers, as well as achieving the most-watched halftime show in Super Bowl history, and the most “tweeted” Super Bowl.
“That’s something the Host Committee works with Glendale and our other stakeholders on is how do we put our best foot forward when all of these major entities are coming to town to figure what they’re going to do around Super Bowl,” Parry said.
The city of Glendale reports the 2015 Super Bowl drew more than 120,000 visitors to Arizona. The planning included more than 200 events across the state, creating an estimated $720 million in economic impact for Arizona, according to an analysis reported by Arizona State University’s WP Carey School of Business. In addition, the NFL and the Host Committee distributed $2 million in grants to Arizona nonprofits.
“This particular Host Committee is going to be bringing in high position CEOs from organizations they believe are either good targets to move or relocate or expand into the Arizona area,” Phelps said. “There’s going to be a specific set of activities and programs. (The sponsorship agreement) will make sure that the City of Glendale is represented in every one of those meetings.”
Turner calculated that for every $1 million the city takes out of the general fund, it takes $34 million in taxable economic activity to replace.
“I can’t help but think what a tough year this has been for so many of our residents with job loss and reduced hours and furlough. How difficult it’s been for businesses in our community that have closed and/or had significant reduction in their business income,” he explained. “I have a hard time justifying taking $1 million out of our General Fund — money that we could be spending on parks or right-of-way landscaping or public safety, police and fire, or any numerous other needs that we have in this city and spending it for a sponsorship for an event that’s going to occur in Glendale regardless.”
Other Council members, like Ray Malnar, believe the agreement “will return many, many times over” what the city invests as a sponsor.
Although 2015 city analysis shows Glendale likely lost between about $1.25 million and $579,000 hosting its previous Super Bowl while incurring costs for public safety and transportation among other expenditures, Tolmachoff noted the 2023 event will see for the first time the Arizona Department of Public Safety shouldering public safety responsibility inside the stadium, not the city.
Other sponsorship supporters point to Business Connect, a feature for official sponsors. Business Connect will allow the Host Committee and the NFL and partners, like Glendale, to work with small businesses to create networking and professional development programs with added exposure for potential contracts for Super Bowl-related business.
More than 400 local small business participated in the 2015 program and received contracts.
“The CEO forum in 2015 hosted approximately 65 CEOs that had a combined corporate valuation of $3.5 trillion, and from there they believe they can count specifically five to six either expansions or relocations or new operations here in Maricopa valley for that,” Phelps said. “So we want to be at the table.”
In 2015, Glendale’s hotels achieved 95% occupancy on Super Bowl weekend, the city reports. Additionally, the Arizona Office of Tourism looked at Visa transactions in Maricopa County that were initiated by out-of-area accounts and found an 18.2% increase in card transactions compared with the same time period in 2014, representing $24 million in increased Visa Card spending.
The game that year delivered a positive economic impact to Arizona of $720 million, the highest for any Super Bowl on record and the largest for any special event in the state.
“It’s such a big canvas that’s painted, it’s not just a small area — just Westgate,” Glendale Mayor Jerry Weiers said. “Really it’s the whole state of Arizona, and the epicenter of that obviously is our stadium and it just goes out from there. Like drops in a pool of water. It starts in the center and goes out. The whole state benefits from it. Anywhere in the state — when they spend money, it still comes back to us.”
Steve Stockmar News Editor | Sun Life Magazine & Arts & Entertainment
YourValley.net @stevestockmar
Meet Steve Steve Stockmar joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2017, and has been an Arizona journalist for almost 30 years. He serves as editor of Sun Life Magazine and contributes to West Valley communities where he focuses mostly on arts & culture, education, and profiles of neighbors making a difference.
Community: Every season Steve serves as a “buddy” with the Miracle League of Arizona in Scottsdale, has volunteered his time with Family Promise in Glendale, and previously served on the Ghostlight Theatre board in Sun City West.
Education: Graduated from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff with a Journalism major and English minor.
Random Fact: Steve once won a 50-player live Texas Hold ’Em poker tournament.
Hobbies: Anguishing over his beloved Chicago Cubs and Bears; listening to Beatles and Grateful Dead music.
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