The Wall Street Journal-20080129-Enterprise- NFL Helps Locals Score Super Bowl Business- Focus Is on Firms Owned by Women And Minorities

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Enterprise: NFL Helps Locals Score Super Bowl Business; Focus Is on Firms Owned by Women And Minorities

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At the Super Bowl tailgate party in Arizona on Sunday, VIPs will be feasting on goodies like mini bread bowls with Southwestern corn chowder.

The food is courtesy of local caterer All About Catering Co., which, along with supplying the 3,000 bowls, is providing food for other events, including some for country stars Sara Evans and Willie Nelson and their crew.

How did such a small operation get in on the Super Bowl frenzy? It's the result of the National Football League's Emerging Business program, which gives small minority- and women-owned firms from around the Super Bowl's host city a chance to bid on contracts for services that support the championship game and its ancillary events. All About Catering of Goodyear, Ariz., which has 12 full-time and 30 contracted workers, won four contracts totaling more than $65,000.

"The mission of the program is to give women- and minority-owned businesses a fair shot," says Bob Sullivan, president of the Arizona Super Bowl Host committee, a group that serves as a liaison with the NFL in organizing preparations. He says most of these smaller businesses don't necessarily know or have the resources to navigate the bidding process of these contracts on their own.

Winning work on such a large, high-profile event can provide a quick burst of income for a small operation. But perhaps more crucially, it can be a marketing bonanza -- giving a small business greater name recognition and allowing the firm to showcase its experience when courting future clients.

"The Super Bowl has gotten our foot in the door as . . . a woman- and minority-owned business," says Ginny Solis, co-owner of All About Catering, "and it's opening up future business for us when the NFL does come back [to Arizona] and for existing businesses to use our services."

To bid on the contracts, businesses have to be certified by local agencies as minority- or women-owned. This year, once the Arizona Super Bowl Host committee verified the businesses' standing, they were added to an online directory of local services. Large vendors that work with the NFL year-round then contacted these local firms -- usually florists, event planners and caterers -- to place bids for subcontract work. The vendors are required under their deals with the NFL to make use of these subcontractors and then tell the NFL how many contracts they awarded.

This year, 245 minority- and women-owned businesses in Arizona are in the directory. There are about 100 contracts up for grabs, which can be doled out right until game day. Since 1994, about $40 million in contracts have been given out through the Emerging Business program.

The businesses most likely to benefit from participation are area hotels, restaurants and golf courses as well as businesses that are geographically close or have a connection to the different facilities used for events, like caterers, says Patrick James Rishe, director of sportsimpacts.net, a Web site that forecasts the impact of sporting events on the local economy, and a sports economist at Webster University in St. Louis.

To help the local companies get involved, the Arizona Super Bowl Host committee has set up seven workshops since November 2006, where people have learned how the program works, what they've needed to do to get certified as a minority- or women-owned business, and how to place contract bids.

April Murillo Stremming, the owner of April's Images & Productions Inc. of Mesa, Ariz., attended two workshops. And she then put in at least 12 bids for contracts dealing with promotional products, e- commerce and marketing.

Her company will be providing 300 ticket cases for Super Bowl VIPs and 1,100 drinking glasses customized with the Super Bowl Host Committee logo. The value of the contracts: $20,000. She expects to make a profit of about $8,000.

The program "puts us on a more level playing field and it gives us a little boost," says Ms. Stremming, 48 years old. "It's like saying to us that just because you're little, just because you're a woman, and just because you're a minority, doesn't mean that we can't be on the same ball field as the big guys."

Ms. Solis of All About Catering attended six workshops last year. After several workshops, she got her operation certified as a minority- and woman-owned business and placed her bids. Ms. Solis says she has hired a few more delivery vans for the Super Bowl events and expects to net about $20,000 from her $65,000 in contracts.

While being part of such a program can provide a quick income boost, there's no guarantee of long-term gains.

Stephen Llorens, president of Light Source Production Services Inc. of Milford, Mich., provided theatrical lighting, rigging and staging at a weeklong Super Bowl XL event two years ago in Detroit. The contract was worth about $300,000.

Mr. Llorens says he thought that participating in the program "was a good opportunity for us marketing-wise because we were able to showcase our capability that we can execute a very unique and challenging project."

Unfortunately, it didn't generate much new business, he says. What's more, Mr. Llorens says it would have been nice if the relationship he cultivated with the NFL and its major suppliers would have led to more contracts with the league. He says he was led to believe that it would.

"This was a one-shot deal and there hasn't been anything like it since," Mr. Llorens says.

Frank Supovitz, senior vice president of events for the NFL, says that a business relationship is lengthened when the Super Bowl comes back to town again or when another NFL event is held in the host city. "The benefit for the company that participates in this program," he says, "is that it teaches small businesses how to compete in the world stage for a contract whether it be a Super Bowl or another big event that comes into town."

Ms. Stremming says she's going to promote her work with the Super Bowl. "I hope it gives us the validity that, since we worked with the Super Bowl . . . we can do anything," she says.