So I Worked For The NFL For A Hot Second.

Sometimes the jobs I get through my temp agency are really unique and kind of interesting.  Like when I worked for the NFL for the week leading up to the Super Bowl.  Oh wait, that just happened.  Yeah.  I worked for the NFL.  It was kinda cool, if you are into that sort of thing.  Me?  I was just there for the paycheck and the food.  Kidding.  Only kind of.



New York and New Jersey were the hosts of the Super Bowl this year, and so New York City went crazy. Times Square was renamed Super Bowl Boulevard, with all kinds of paraphernalia, including a huge toboggan run and the Lombardi Trophy on display in the middle of the street.  (I literally just had to Google the official name of said trophy.  That's how little I know/care about the Super Bowl).  There were a million other publicity festivities up and around Times Square that I didn't even get to see, because I was in the NFL House the whole time.

Sometimes you need a little Starbucks to get through training.

What's the NFL House?  I'll tell you.  It's a VIP hospitality event that starts a few days before the game and provides a place to relax, eat, hold meetings (for sponsor corporations) and hob nob with really important people involved with NFL. It was held at the Marriott Marquis hotel in Times Square.  Everything down to the tiniest detail was seen to.  I was literally fluffing pillows in the main room, and the huge seating area at the bottom of the picture is of the Roman Numerals for forty-eight.  I hope people were suitably impressed, those ingrates! 

The full view of the main room.

Tickets to the event are by invitation only, and are insanely expensive.  But the food is free flowing, there are amenities to be had (spin classes, chair massage, manicures, hair, shoe shine, etc.), tons of alcohol (if you are in to that sort of thing) and just a fancy feel of excess to all of it.  And, charming, attractive people like me to tell you, "the bathroom is down the hall to your right."

But seriously, this was a pretty exclusive event.  Not even NFL players had a free pass in, and our security was really tight.  We turned them down by the droves.  (Sorry 'bout it).  This was for certain players, owners, sponsors, and other what-have-you various and sundry fancy people.  I did see a few notables, and was pointed out to a few more that I had not recognized.  I am sure I saw more than I would know.  It was fun to be surrounded by all of it, and it was fascinating to see this part of life and society.  I'm not saying I don't care AT ALL about the Super Bowl.  I can get into it when I want to.  But I have tons of sports geek friends who would have been freaking out to be there.  Maybe that's part of why it was fun for me; I know so many people who would have loved to have been there, and that made me appreciate it more.  But it was genuinely fun for me too. I just would have geeked out more if I was working at a Tony Awards event.

And yes, the food was incredible.  We did get to eat.  And thank goodness.  The event staff were very kind to us and treated us well.  So that's always really nice.  And as we parted, we all got this box of Super Bowl Swag (a technical term).  Bonus!


So basically, ask me if I watched the actual Super Bowl.  Go ahead.  (Answer: nope.  Nope, I didn't.  But I heard it was a catastrophe anyway, so...)