Many of you know, The Graphic Edge was chosen to produce the directional signs and banners at Cowboy Stadium for Super Bowl XLV. So many exciting things happened the year proceeding Super Bowl XLV but unfortunately I didn’t have a blog back then. Knowing that Super Bowl XLVI is only a week away, I decided to reflect on my experience as an NFL sign vendor heavily involved in the big game. I will countdown to Game Day with my blog in turbo but start where our journey began.
The first time I even heard the Super Bowl was coming to Dallas was when Cathy Hutzler of Purrsnickitty Design referred the North Texas Super Bowl Host Committee to The Graphic Edge to produce a Media Wall Banner. It was exciting getting the Super Bowl Host Committee Logo and creating a large banner that ultimately was used throughout the entire event. We produced a Portable Backwall Pop Up Display on Twill Fabric including a frame and carrying case.
We delivered the job on Monday but brought it home for my kids to stand in front of over the weekend (after all The Graphic Edge is a family owned business). My kids weren’t too excited until the following week it showed up in the Dallas Morning News (dallasnews.com Friday February 27, 2009, Metro Section 1B) with some other very important players sitting in front of it.
The next phone call from the North Texas Super Bowl Host Committee (NTSBHC) came in the Spring of 2009, from Angie Bulaich. She worked with Bill Lively and the core group of host committee employees. Angie invited us to come to the Dallas and Ft Worth offices to discuss printing wall posters that were to be used to decorate the offices for both locations. I would be lying, if I didn’t say, James (my husband and partner at The Graphic Edge) and I were not “star struck.” In fact, we were pretty star struck the entire two years prior to the game.
James measured the walls and we came up with a competitive bid to do both offices. Unfortunately, they needed us to be more competitive and asked if we could come way down in our prices to meet their budget. Working with the North Texas Super Bowl Committee was a prestigious honor and we would be recognized for our donation. This was a hard one for me, we are a little printer and they are’¦.well they are the Super Bowl. I slept on that decision but decided to stand strong and told Angie, I couldn’t donate the work but would be happy to come up with cost saving options. One Long Quiet week later, I got a call and we began working with the host committee on the posters for their offices. All in all we printed about 50 posters for the project that continued as new graphics came available. Check out some of the signs we printed below, all mounted to 3/16″ black gator board with a textured laminate.
Of course, Cowboy Stadium, this rendering was important because in March 2009, the stadium was still under construction and the committee was able to show the “vision”.
