Random Post #2

 The Super Bowl... and How I Got Paid to Watch it

It all started when a link got sent into the group chat for a club I'm apart of here at USC called the Sports Business Association. The link was sent by the SBA president who told us it was a job opportunity to work the Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium. The job was not actually directly with the NFL but with a third party company called On Location that was hired by the NFL. I thought I might as well apply if there's a chance I'd get to be at the Super Bowl with the added bonus that I'd have something cool to put on my resume. There were a couple positions open so I applied for all of them and was lucky enough to get selected for their gameday "Teammate" position. This essentially meant my job was showing people where to go and taking them to different pre-game parties and events that On Location was in charge of operating. Once I got selected, the paperwork process was much more intense than I imagined for such a simple job. Because the Super Bowl is such a high level event with so many people, it is apparently classified as some sort of high-risk national safety event (sorry for the lack of correct terminology) by the U.S. Government. As a result, not only were there many, many documents to sign but I was also background checked and evaluated by the FBI based on my application questions.

On top of this, I was required to do a training webinar in the weeks leading up to the big game where I met the people at On Location as well as several of my other Teammates. After this, the other Teammates and I were directed to go to the LA Convention Center during the week of the Super Bowl to pick up our credentials for SoFi Stadium. At the time, the Super Bowl Experience, which is a combination of different games and attractions all having to do with the NFL, was going on at the Convention Center, so it was a hectic process actually finding out where to get my credentials. Once I finally did find the right spot, which was pretty much the basement of the Convention Center, I got my special badge with my picture on it and they told me I could go into see the Super Bowl Experience for free now if I wanted to. It was a pretty crazy scene with all the tourists and what not, but there were some interesting exhibits such as the one that showed all of the previous Super Bowl rings. The next day, the day before the Super Bowl, I had in person training at SoFi Stadium where we were given more instructions, a good amount of gear and clothing, as well as a tour of the grounds. The entire place is so massive that they actually call it the SoFi Campus while only the building itself is SoFi Stadium. 

Finally, it was Super Bowl Sunday and I couldn't wait to get there. I got to the off-site parking lot around 7 in the morning where shuttles were waiting to take all the people working the game that day to the stadium. Once we got there, we got some breakfast, did another run through what we needed to know, and then were taken to our posts for the day. My shift was near the lake right by the main entrance to the stadium and scheduled to end about 30 minutes before the start of the game which I was happy with. I thought this gave me a chance to try and finesse my way in the stadium come game time because even though my credentials specifically limited me from going inside the actual stadium for the game I was wearing the same uniform as other Teammates whose shifts were inside the stadium for the game. So, when I finished my shift I headed over to one of the stadiums gates and saw that only some of the security guards there were scanning tickets and badges while others were just waiving people through after looking at them. I chose a guy that was only waving, shuffled in line with the fast moving crowd, barely flashed a glimpse of my badge, and he never thought twice. I took five steps inside the stadium and then it hit me-- the disbelief that I not only got into the Super Bowl but even got paid to be there. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I will never forget.