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| SUPER BOWL SUNDAY | 6 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2016 Campbell, meanwhile, had contacts in the NFL world from his time as a coach, in addition to his Silicon Valley business background. "He was our secret weapon," Lurie said of Camp- bell. By the May 21 meeting at a Boston airport hotel, the picture had come into sharp focus. Houston was only bidding on Super Bowl 51, not Super Bowl 50. The Bay Area was bidding on both. So was Miami, though its effort was tainted by a recent Florida leg- islature vote that delayed stadium improvements. Lurie and his delegation oozed confidence when they entered the meeting. But he was still nervous. The room was on an upper floor. Lurie found him- self occasionally glancing out the window to watch planes land on the airport runways. "It was a pretty intimidating room," Lurie re- called. "When you're standing there talking to peo- ple like Robert Kraft and Jerry Jones — people I'd only seen on television — it was kind of daunting." Within an hour of the presentation, however, the 32 owners had made their choice. Lurie and his team watched in their hotel suite — with the NFL Network cameras trained on them — as NFL com- missioner Roger Goodell stepped to the podium. He announced that Super Bowl 50 had been awarded to the San Francisco Bay Area. Houston would host the following year. Miami was shut out. Lurie's suite erupted in cheers. He and his team dined in Boston that night with 49ers' executives. Then the realization hit: We've really got to pull off this thing. Within weeks, an official SB50 host committee had gained structure and hired a chief executive: Keith Bruce, an experienced sports marketer who had done business at the Olympics and World Cup. An advisory board was appointed with representa- tion from all corners of the Bay Area, fulfilling the plan to give Super Bowl 50 more of a broad-based geography than most. So far, that blueprint seems to have succeeded, with officials in San Francisco, Santa Clara and San Jose cooperating to stage multiple elements of the SB50 package. "It's been heartwarming to see that happen be- cause we're in competition a lot," said Moore, no longer a Santa Clara council member but a member of the SB50 advisory board. Moore also can't hide his joy at seeing Santa Clara become the fourth-smallest city to host Amer- ica's biggest sporting event, trailing only East Ruth- erford, New Jersey; Pontiac, Michigan; and Palo Alto — which hosted the only previous Bay Area Su- per Bowl in 1985. "You just kind of giggle," Moore said. "But to me, that was one of the selling points of building the stadium. Santa Clara is a great place with a lot of great reasons for people to live here. But in terms of entertainment, we didn't have much. Now we've got one of the biggest events in the world taking place here. How can you argue with that?" Many people have, of course. There have been complaints about Levi's Stadium and about a Su- per Bowl ticket lottery and about the Super Bowl City fan festival in San Francisco that has created traffic jams and about the money being spent by the various cities that might or might not be re- imbursed or recompensed by hotel and restaurant taxes. "We know we're going to hit snags and we will get through them," Lurie said. "I knew we'd have obstructions. But we hope the benefits outweigh all of those. I know we can handle it and show off the entire region to the world." A natural endorser of that view is Moore, the man who first envisioned a Super Bowl on that va- cant parking lot many years ago. "Not only did we pull it off, we got the 50th one," Moore said. "Whatever the word 'surreal' means, I guess that's the best word to describe it. Unless there's a better word I can come up with." The most obvious word would be "super." Prob- ably too obvious. So let's try this hyphenated one: "Long-awaited." Winning in Woodland! Score big with these local businesses G AYLE M ANUFACTURING C OMPANY STEEL FABRICATORS "Performance Through Innovation" Serving Yolo County for over 35 Years 1455 E. KENTUCKY WOODLAND 530-662-0284 FAX: (530) 662-0890 Family Owned & Operated Grocery Outlet, the largest " extreme-value" grocer in the U. S. with prices up to 60% less than conventional retailers. 1366 East Main Street Woodland • 662-1891 SHOP US FIRST. GET MORE. Water Problems? • Free Water Testing • Better Tasting Water • Cleaner Clothes & Dishes • Softeners & Filters • Drinking Water Systems • Worldwide Leader in Water Treatment 662-0295 24-Hour Emergency Service 1122 Pendegast Street • www.Culliganwoodland.com License #259766 Serving Yolo County Since 1946 www.bsoninlaw.com (530) 662-2226 Caring for our clients, Protecting their assets™ Estate Planning | Trusts Probate | Special Needs 21 Court Street, Woodland, CA 95695 (707) 425-9545 4088 Russell Rd, Fairfield, CA 94534 www.gartontractor.com Sales Parts Service