The Super Bowl is 2 weeks away and is being played in New Jersey this year. My question is how many are going to brave the unknown weather in an outdoor stadium for a night game. 5 years ago the Super Bowl was here in the Valley of the Sun (Scottsdale/Phoenix) and next year will return, to a warmer climate and an indoor/outdoor stadium with real grass.
I chaired the Super Bowl Committee for Aviation and am do so again for next years game. There are numerous differences between Scottsdale and NYC in the winter, mainly being the weather. We were very fortunate to have New England and the Giants in the Super Bowl here. Both teams are in an affluent area, and I am sure that a lot of people that came to the game appreciated our warm weather.
This year’s game has Denver versus Seattle. FBO’s are expecting a lot of private jet traffic for the game. If New England was in the game it would have cut traffic by over 1/2 as most from that area would just drive. The question remains how many of the private jet owners plan on flying to the game? Time will tell.
Even through our game is in Glendale 1 hour west of Scottsdale (SDL), most jet owners prefer to stay in Scottsdale. The airport is located amongst numerous resorts, high end shopping and golf courses. Parties are held outside weather permitting. In addition to the Super Bowl the Phoenix Open Golf tournament is held in Scottsdale the same week.
Some of the ground factions on the committee are Airport Staffs, FBO’s, FBI, Homeland Security and Scottsdale Police and Fire. Air factions are ATC Towers, TRACON and Albuquerque Center. The last Super Bowl came off well until Monday after the game. It seemed that 288 jets wanted to depart SDL at the same time, in addition there were a lot of Net Jet arrivals to pick up golfers after the tournament, all from a single runway airport. To make matters worse at 12 noon we had thunderstorms over the airport that shut the airport down.
Phoenix Deer Valley (DVT) is the worlds busiest GA airport and located approximately 15 miles west of SDL. DVT takes the overflow from SDL when it fills. The flight schools in the Valley and Luke Air Force Base all stand down Monday after the game to help open the airspace.
We have changed a few things for next year allowing only departures in the morning. Arrivals will have to wait until after noon. If the winds prevail DVT departures will be to the east on runway 25 and SDL departures will be to the north on runway 3. If the wind does not cooperate departures will slow down as both DVT and SDL use the same IFR departure.
ATC has worked close with us, and it is now up to Albuquerque Center to join the party. We will be meeting with them next month.
Looking forward to a great game in 2 weeks and to see how many planes show for a cold weather outdoor game.
Am really looking forward to having the Super Bowl back in the Valley the following year and hopeful that 2 affluent cities will be represented in the game.
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