Most professional football fanatics dream of one day being able to go to the Super Bowl, and for 24 dedicated members of BGSU’s Sports Management Alliance (SMA), that dream came true.
Select students from the SMA had the opportunity to attend and work at this year’s Super Bowl LIX. Attendees were in New Orleans for eight days, working preview events, touring Louisiana college sports facilities and taking in all the city of New Orleans had to offer along the way.
Getting to New Orleans was a journey for the students. To be chosen to go to the Super Bowl, students had to prove their passion and excitement through written and verbal interviews.
Katie Schmitz, a sophomore marketing and international business major, was given the opportunity to attend the Super Bowl with the SMA for a second year in a row. As an executive for the organization, she also conducted some of the over 50 interviews from interested applicants.
“We wanted people who were excited to go,” Schmitz said. “In some of the interviews I had, this was something that they were looking forward to their whole time at BGSU, and finding people that were passionate about something like this was what really drove the people we picked for the trip.”
Once the students were chosen, they had to fundraise. Attendees hosted a variety of fundraisers to fund their travel and housing, including selling ‘Super Bowl squares’ to donors interested in helping the students make it to the big game.
The money raised was split evenly among the students on the trip, and the costs went towards travel, hotels, group meals and other miscellaneous costs that came with being in New Orleans. Lily Smith, a sophomore sports management major, said fundraising like the squares and working in New Orleans evened out the cost of attendance.
“Our starting balance was, like, $1800 this year, but with different fundraising and cost adjustments like the squares, it was better,” Smith said.
Once the students actually got to New Orleans, they were immersed in the culture of the city and the world of professional football. They had the opportunity to tour sports facilities at universities like Tulane and Louisiana State, and select groups of students were starstruck by sports and internet celebrities like Kylie Kelce and Chris Olsen.
Smith, one of the students who had the chance to meet TikTok star Chris Olsen, said she and her friends spotted him in a New Orleans restaurant while he was filming content for his social media pages.
“They were like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s Chris Olsen,’ and then we went up to him, and he was like, ‘Hey guys, do you guys want to do a group selfie?’…he was filming something,” Smith said. “I don’t know if we’ll be in what he’s making, but he was super, super nice.”
Students also got the opportunity to work at the Super Bowl Experience, an NFL sponsored event designed to give the families of New Orleans a chance to celebrate the big game and interact with some of their favorite star athletes. Brayden Sullivan, a sophomore sports management major, said the experience was one of the highlights of the trip.
“I personally met Pat Surtain, who was the defensive player of the year, so that was really cool,” Sullivan said. “I got to say ‘what’s up’ to Shedeur Sanders…I saw Pat McAfee…Drew Brees…Drake Maye and Micah Parson (were) around on the field playing pickleball…it was just a really cool and interactive experience.”
After almost a week in New Orleans, the big day finally came: Super Bowl Sunday. Students woke up bright and early, dawned their free Super Bowl LIX gear and prepared to work at the event, directing guests into the stadium and being their ‘hype’ crew for the afternoon.
Smith said being the ‘hype’ and getting to interact with excited fans was one of her favorite parts of the experience.
“There was so much spirit with the Eagles fans, it was insane. They were always screaming,” Smith said. “Chiefs fans were great too, but the Eagles fans were just so excited to be there and just gave such a different energy. It was really cool to kind of interact with them and be, like, ‘Go birds,’ and they would scream back.”
Sullivan said sharing his passion for football with the fans he saw made the experience worthwhile.
“We were all so excited just to enjoy game day together,” Sullivan said.
From there, students got to get out of the rain and watch the big game from the comfort of a stadium watch party before heading back to the hotel room to round out an eventful week.
They said meeting celebrities and taking in the city of New Orleans made the Super Bowl experience great, but getting to do it with their peers made it unforgettable.
“I was already friends with a lot of these people, but when you’re stuck together for a week, you’re bonded together in this really good friendship,” Schmitz said. “Like, sure, we worked the Super Bowl, but it was so much more than that.”
