BY ADAM SEHLMEYER

The Super Bowl comes around once a year and showcases two of the best teams in the NFL. Most of America watches the game, but many don’t realize there are many ancillary events that happen before the actual game takes place. One of those events is the Direct TV Celebrity Beach Bowl. This event involves a flag football game in the sand between former NFL players, celebrities, actors, musicians and other athletes.

Being able to experience this event first hand is something I won’t forget. With celebrities all around like Desmond Howard, Eddie George and Shawn Johnson, it would have been easy to get overwhelmed. But for us, eight Sport Management students from BGSU, it was just another day helping out in New Orleans. It was our duty to make sure the celebrities stayed on time.

This event started off with a red carpet walk where the celebrities would talk to various people from different media stations. After the red carpet, the celebrities moved to a gifting tent where many businesses were offering up their products. The celebrities were then told to wait around in a lounging area where they talked and ate food provided for them.

The game itself consisted of four quarters of fun flag football, where the celebrities showed off their skills. Warren Moon and Deion Sanders shined in the game, while the other players were more concerned with having a good time. This event is a fan favorite for people who witness it live and more than 10,000 people showed up to watch this event. After the game was over there was a Pitbull concert and a Justin Timberlake party at night.

With so many events going on in one day we got to see what it was like to manage an event of this magnitude. We also saw how quickly an area can be transformed from a flag football game in the sand to a pop concert.