Moline graduate working behind the scenes at Super Bowl

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By Kurt Allemeier | Saturday, February 2, 2008 12:46 AM CST | () comments

A former Moline woman has a prime seat to watch preparations for Sunday’s Super Bowl, but she doesn’t expect much of a view when the game starts.

Elizabeth Jones, a 2000 Moline High School graduate, is an event coordinator with Global Spectrum, the company that manages University of Phoenix Stadium, where Super Bowl XLII kicks off Sunday night.

The 25-year-old has been assisting Fox Sports personnel with behind-the scenes preparations this week and will help them during the game.

While she usually coordinates with clients about their wants, needs and costs of their event, she is mostly a “go-fer” for the network technicians this week.

“They have a lot of needs, these Fox people,” she said.

Those needs even come ahead of family. Her parents, Michael “Mick” and Patty Jones, live in Moline. When her father heard about Elizabeth’s new job, he wondered about attending the Super Bowl.

“I’ve been hitting her up for tickets since she got her job,” he said with a laugh. “She said, ‘You can get on a Web site and get one for $5,000.’ ”

The 2005 University of Iowa graduate said she did ask about ticket availability and was shot down. Jones has been in her job since November, after joining Global Spectrum in 2006 as an administrative assistant. Her Super Bowl experience has been big and fast, so far.

“I’m not going to lie. I was a little bit overwhelmed,” she said. “It is tough to believe that this is the (Arizona) Cardinals’ stadium. They have done so much work in such a little amount of time.”

The hectic week has had its fun moments, Jones said. She visited the NFL Experience area outside the stadium and watched rock star Tom Petty’s rehearsal Thursday night for the halftime show. She provided a bit of a preview.

“There are 3,000 volunteers to make the 32-minute halftime show,” she said. “It has a little bit of pyro(technics) and a lot of Tom Petty.”

Jones went to Phoenix after graduating from Iowa with a degree in health and sports studies, hoping to land a job with a facilities management company working with the Phoenix Coyotes of the National Hockey League, the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association or the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League. She got the job before University of Phoenix Stadium opened and when Global Spectrum’s offices were in trailers in what is now the parking lot.

A football fan, she loves working at the Cardinals games. Although she doesn’t usually get to see much of them, Jones was able to watch most of the Cardinals game against the Chicago Bears during the 2006 season.

“I couldn’t get a rush like I do working on a football game,” she said.

Even though Super Bowl tickets weren’t forthcoming, the Joneses are proud of their daughter.

“This was what she has wanted to do, and she was lucky enough to land her dream job right out of the box,” Michael Jones said. “This is the opportunity of a lifetime for her and she is taking advantage of it.”

She and another employee coordinated a food drive, Supper Bowl 2008, with the goal of providing as many meals for a Phoenix-area food bank as there are seats in the stadium. The drive surpassed the goal to match the 63,000 seats, collecting enough food between Oct. 21 and Jan. 18 for 78,409 meals.

“We smashed our goal,” she said. “It was a pretty good first year for the Global Spectrum community outreach committee. We’ll have to set our goals higher next year.”

Plus, there might still be a chance to score some tickets for Dad. Jones said University of Phoenix Stadium is trying to bring an NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four and another Super Bowl to the facility. It already is scheduled to host a regional finals for the 2009 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

Kurt Allemeier can be contacted at (563) 383-2360 or kallemeier@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.