First & Goal: Issue 5

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ISSUE 5 • OCTOBER 8, 2014

LASTING LEGACY

The College Football Playoff sustainability program hopes to make a long-term impact on North Texas BY JAIME ARON

PHOTO BY MELISSA MACATEE

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he first-ever College Football Playoff National Championship is certain to be a historic event. Well, so might another first-of-its-kind event that’s coming along with it, one that will leave a longer-lasting impact on North Texas.

Get ready for … competitive tree planting.

That’s right, tree planting.

Before we get into the details, it might help to understand how this is even connected to the Jan. 12 showdown at AT&T Stadium that will determine the top team in college football.

The game itself is the crown jewel of a much larger plan that includes all sorts of fun events (concerts, a three-day interactive fan festival) and philanthropic opportunities (most tied to teachers and students, as you’d expect from an event tied to higher education). It’s all about creating a legacy that goes well beyond an entry in the annals of the college football almanac.

Well, another piece of that plan

LET IT GROH: Jack Groh hopes to make a lasting impact on the North Texas environment thanks to the College Football Playoff National Championship.

Instead of just gathering a bunch of people and shovels for a photo opp, organizers have come up with an event that will hopefully catch on, perhaps doing for urban forestry what the Taste of the NFL has done for food banks.

“It’s going to be one big, fun event,” said Jack Groh of Groh Associates, an environmental consultant for Super Bowls since 1993 who has been hired on as a consultant to oversee the sustainability of the inaugural College Football Playoff National Championship.

Here’s how it will work: On the Thursday or Friday before the

“There will be prizes for the top three teams. They consist of several hundred trees sent to their campuses for them to plant.” is a sustainability program, which basically means making the North Texas area a better place than it was before the game. And that’s where the tree planting competition fits perfectly.

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game, at a site being selected by the Texas Trees Foundation, teams representing 10 schools will each plant 10 trees, thus putting 100 new trees into North Texas soil.

The competition part comes down to which squad does it best, with “best” determined by a combination of speed and accuracy in following proper planting methods.

Six teams will represent local schools. The other four will come from the teams chosen to play in the College Football Playoff Semifinals.

Now, about those teams.

Since tree planting isn’t a scholarship sport, squads don’t actually exist. They will be assembled specifically for this event. That should be CONTINUED →

ISSUE 5

OCTOBER 8, 2014

LASTING LEGACY, CONT.

easy among the local schools, but more challenging for the semifinalists, especially since they won’t be picked until Dec. 7.

“We’ve got a strategy for that,” Groh said. “Almost every one of the top 25 teams in college football has a huge alumni organization here in North Texas. So rather than try to recruit all these folks and say maybe you can come in, we’re going to use the people already here on the ground.”

The competition will be for more than pride.

“There will be prizes for the top three teams. They consist of several hundred trees sent to their campuses for them to plant,” Groh said. “We’ve done urban forestry before at Super Bowls, but the idea of turning it into a competitive event is brand new. It makes it more exciting. There’s something actually on the line.”

Tree planting is one of many aspects of Groh’s sustainability game plan for the College Football Playoff National Championship.

Others include solid waste management and recycling at key venues, collecting and donating prepared food, reuse of décor material and construction materials and team travel offsets of flight emissions. Then there are the biggies: water conservation and renewable energy at AT&T Stadium on game day.

Groh last set up shop in North Texas while preparing for the Super

ONCE WE KNOW WHO’S IN – HOW DO I GET IN?

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ith the college football season heating up — and more and more attention turning to the inaugural CFP National Championship on Jan. 12 at AT&T Stadium — fans are starting to wonder how to secure their seats for this historic event.

There are four ways for the public to secure a ticket to the college football big night: + APPROXIMATELY 50% OF TICKETS ARE ALLOCATED TO THE TWO PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS. So, if your school is in, start there. + RANDOM DRAWING – 1,000 (500 pairs) tickets will be made available to fans who enter the College Football Playoff random ticket drawing each year. Winners of the drawing will have the right to purchase two tickets. The random ticket drawing will open the February prior to each year’s championship game. The random ticket drawing for the 2015 College Football Playoff National Championship is now closed. + TEAMTIX (FORWARD MARKET) – Through Forward Market, 2,500 tickets will be made available to fans. Fans may make reservations to purchase tickets for any particular team, with prices determined by demand. Then if that team qualifies for the national championship, the fan will be able to purchase tickets at face value. Forward Market closes November 24, 2014. + PLAYOFF PREMIUM – College Football Playoff National Championship Playoff Premium packages include tickets, hotel rooms, and pregame hospitality.

For more information on all these programs, go to www.collegefootballplayoff.com.

still recovering. That’s why water conservation is a top priority.

“Our sustainability program wants to be sensitive to the community we’re in, and that’s an issue for this community,” he said. “So how do we respond to it? How do we show that we’re not only aware of it but we’re trying to do something about it?”

Water usage in and around the stadium on game day is beyond his domain. But he can promote water conservation in and around the

“Our sustainability program wants to be sensitive to the community we’re in, and that’s an issue for this community.”

Bowl in February 2011. Months later, an oppressively hot summer hit, triggering a devastating drought from which the region is

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stadium in the run-up to the event and on game day.

“We’re going to encourage our fans to do little, simple things like taking a shorter shower and turning off the water while you brush your teeth,” Groh said. “Those behaviors themselves are not going to make a huge difference in water consumption, but it will make an imprint on their mind and they’ll start to think of the water conservation issue. There will be tens of thousands of fans coming into the stadium. Those who travel here will take the message home with them, and so CONTINUED →

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LASTING LEGACY, CONT.

will the folks who live here in North Texas. That elevates and spreads the awareness of it, and that’s always a good thing.”

Renewable energy is a bestof-both-worlds scenario. AT&T Stadium will rely on so-called green energy on game day, with the promotion of that fact potentially leading to more people relying on renewable energy.

“When we started doing it at the Super Bowl eight years ago, the number of people doing it was zip — nobody,” Groh said. “But people saw us doing things like putting in solar panels and it’s huge now. It’s what we like to call the power of the shield. People see the NFL shield associated with renewable energy and it creates a little bit of a cool factor. People look at the Super Bowl and say, `Why are these guys using green energy? They must know something.’”

In case you’re wondering, yes, green energy was powering the Super Bowl in New Orleans when the lights went out. Groh assures it was completely unrelated.

“Although I did get blamed for it,” he said, laughing.

“Somebody said, `Was that you trying to save energy?’”

BOOK A SPEAKER Interested in learning more about the 2015 College Football Playoff National Championship and what it means to the North Texas Region? Contact the SEOC about possibly booking a speaker at your next event. To learn more, email Tony Fay at tony@stadiumeoc.com.

A CHAMPIONSHIP LEGACY

College football will crown a champion on January 12 in North Texas, but it’s not the first time for the region to play college kingmaker BY CHALIE FISS

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hen the College Football and receiver Phil Harris, the Horns Playoff National knocked off No. 2 Navy and Heisman Championship Trophy winner Roger Staubach, 28-6. presented by Dr Pepper is awarded late in the evening 1965: This was to be of January 12, the Arkansas’ finest hour. The winning squad Razorbacks, undefeated will be the latest (10-0-0) and ranked college football team second nationally behind crowned national Alabama, had something champion on North to prove. When the day Texas soil. But it was done, Arkansas had won’t be the first. more than proven itself Five times the Cotton as a legitimate heir to Bowl Classic (which the national crown. The assembled the bid to Cotton Bowl crowned bring the inaugural another national champion HOG WILD: Arkansas CFP National when Fred Marshall drove quaterback Fred Marshall Championship to Arkansas 80 yards for the led the Razorbacks to a win Arlington) has seen winning touchdown in a over Nebraska in the 1965 the title decided on its 10-7 defeat of Nebraska.

Cotton Bowl Classic and the turf. Here’s a look at Starting at right guard national championship. those historic tilts: for the Hogs was Jerry Jones, the future owner of the Dallas 1960: This was the first in a series Cowboys. of five Cotton Bowl Classics over an 11 year stretch that had the 1970: Collegiate football’s centennial national championship riding on the season soon would come to a flashy outcome. No. 1 Syracuse, complete end, and for the grand finale, the with a perfect 10-0-0 record, rolled nation’s eyes would focus upon Dallas into Dallas to face once-beaten and and the 34th annual Cotton Bowl. fourth-ranked Texas. Syracuse’s Ernie Quarterback James Street engineered Davis slipped past Texas defenders a dramatic 76-yard, 17-play drive in to snare a halfback pass from Ger the game’s closing minutes to rally Schwedes and then sprinted 87 Texas past Notre Dame for a 21-17 yards for a touchdown that propelled victory. It was the Longhorns’ second Syracuse to a 23-14 victory, an national title in six years. unbeaten season, and college football’s national championship.

1978: For the fourth time in history, Texas came to the Cotton Bowl 1964: For the first time, the Cotton equipped with the nation’s No. 1 Bowl matched the nation’s top-ranked ranking and a spotless season record. teams. Texas, with a perfect 10-0-0 In a headline attraction featuring record, was ranked No. 1 in the final Heisman Trophy winner Earl Campbell, regular-season rankings. Navy was the Fighting Irish and quarterback just a step behind the Longhorns at Joe Montana spoiled the Longhorns’ No. 2 with a 9-1-0 mark. No. 1 Texas national championship hopes with left little doubt as to which was best. a 38-10 upset. The victory vaulted Sparked by quarterback Duke Carlisle Notre Dame into the No. 1 spot.

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