“Rising Up” to the Occasion

By Emily Daniels

Photo by Anna Barker

For as long as she could remember, Hannah Jordan knew that she had a knack for event planning. As a College of Business Ambassador and an active member of Phi Mu sorority, Jordan learned all the ins and outs of planning a really great event. She even had the opportunity to sharpen those skills while she was a student worker in the Dean’s Office, assisting with the execution of events for the College of Business’ Centennial Celebration in 2015. But she never thought that only one year later, her passion for planning events would take her all the way to America’s biggest stage – Super Bowl LI.

During the spring semester of her senior year, Jordan, a double major in management and marketing, was searching for jobs involving planning events. The world was her oyster. Knowing that she could be working in a new job and a new city in the near future was exciting! During her search, she found a website called TeamworkOnline.com and ran across an internship position with the Atlanta Falcons that seemed too good to pass up.

Jordan was already a Falcons fan, having grown up in Dacula, GA, a city less than an hour from the Atlanta metropolitan area. The team’s “Rise Up!” slogan was in her blood. It seemed as if she were fated to find that job opportunity. She even knew several people who worked for the Falcons organization and decided to put the networking skills she had learned in college to work.

“I reached out to everyone I knew there and said, ‘Hey, I am applying for this position. Here’s my resume if you want to take a look at it – let me know if you have any questions,’” says Jordan. “Hundreds of people apply for this internship each year, and it is very competitive. Reaching out to anyone you know and networking is very, very important.”

It was not long before Jordan received word that she was one of a handful of young professionals selected to serve as interns for the Atlanta Falcons’ 2016-17 football season. She was ecstatic and eager to get started.

With the official title of Corporate Partnership Seasonal Assistant, Jordan worked under the Corporate Partnerships Department, dealing with the companies that sponsor the Falcons – everything from league sponsors like Gatorade and Microsoft to local sponsors like Atlanta’s Northside Hospital.

“There are two divisions under corporate partnership: the sales team and the service team, which I worked on,” she explains. “The service team makes sure that everything in the contract is being fulfilled exactly how the company wants it and how the Falcons want to do it, so we are the day-to-day contact. If there is an issue with something in the contract, then we go back to the sales team. Some of the interns work directly with full-time employees on sponsor accounts, and I was the intern for McDonald’s, Papa John’s and Northside Hospital.”

Of the accounts for which she was responsible, Jordan says that working with Northside Hospital was one of the most rewarding experiences.

“Our official hospital sponsor, Northside, sponsors Breast Cancer Awareness Week each year. The Falcons are currently the only team in the NFL who put on a week-long Breast Cancer Awareness event,” she states.

For Breast Cancer Awareness Week, Jordan worked in concert with the hospital, informing breast cancer survivors about the event, setting up a hospitality section and coordinating a parade before the game that Sunday. On Sunday, all the Falcons players wore pink, and former players escorted cancer survivors onto the field to share their stories before the game.

“It was just so cool because you looked up and saw 60,000 people cheering on these women who went through so much and came out on top,” recalls Jordan. “It was really emotional because everyone knows at least one person affected by breast cancer.”

On a typical game day, interns arrive at the stadium around five hours before kickoff, which comes really early for those 11 a.m. games. They get straight to work, making sure that the needs are met for every sponsor before and during the game.

Jordan says they usually finish up with everything around halftime, and then many times they get to watch the rest of the game out on the field or from one of company suites. Talk about an employee perk!

“The really cool thing is that you get to meet these people who are high up at big companies, like Coca-Cola and McDonald’s. Networking was something that I learned here at Mississippi State, with Career Chats and the Mocktails event,” she says. “I was able to use that skill during my internship. I was only supposed to have six months in the internship, so I was trying to make the most of every minute I was there.”

The interns were only supposed to work six months, until the last home game, but that was before the Falcons made the playoffs. The team clinched the title for their division and advanced to claim the NFC Championship title. The Falcons were going to the Super Bowl!

Jordan had already begun looking for other sports teams for whom to work, since she enjoyed her time as an intern so much. She could envision herself working in sports marketing and events long-term. Much to her surprise, her supervisors called her in to let her know they had decided to extend her internship! Only this time, she wouldn’t be working with corporate sponsorships – she would actually have a seat on the Super Bowl Planning Committee.

The week of the NFC championship and the AFC championship, executives of the four NFL teams involved flew to Houston to go over the schedule of events, should their teams advance to the Super Bowl.

Jordan says that each team received a binder chock full of information, from travel and lodging all the way down to uniform color selections. The National Football League made sure to include any and all details for every scenario, but it was up to each team to organize everything.

“It’s crazy how much work goes into sending a team to the Super Bowl, especially one like the Falcons,” she says. “There were only a handful of people still working with the Falcons since the last time we went to the Super Bowl, so it was new to everyone. I read an article recently that said we were the most complex organization that’s

ever gone to the Super Bowl. Usually teams will take a few hundred people with them, and we took close to 2,000!”

Because she was on the Falcons’ Super Bowl Planning Committee, Jordan received a ticket to the game, a flight and a hotel room on Friday before the Super Bowl until the Monday following. She also had the option to purchase another seat on the flight, so she brought her sister.

It was not just fun and games; there was a lot of work involved. Between the welcome party, pregame party and postgame party, every last detail had to be perfect. Money was no object for the biggest celebration of the year – it was an event planner’s dream.

There were several other events they had to organize during that weekend. Some were for just the players, and others were for players’ and coaches’ families. “Golden tickets” to attend VIP events were given out to players, families and celebrities such as native Atlanta rappers 2 Chainz, T.I. and Ludacris.

“We had a few people perform, and since they’re from Atlanta they were excited about the game and got everyone else pumped up. Whether you’re a fan of rap or not, it was really cool because it was just a fun private party before the game. Then we had something kind of similar after the game, which we had planned regardless of whether we had won or lost. It was a lot of work just to plan all the parties, but it was rewarding to see it all come together.”

So what’s next?

The future looks bright for Jordan, who still works for the Falcons, but now in a different role – Business Operations Coordinator. In this position, she helps provide support to their logistics and finance departments.

“I never would have thought in a million years that I’d be working with a professional sports team,” she adds. “But it has been one of the best decisions I’ve made so far, besides choosing MSU, of course!”