METAIRIE, La. — The New Orleans Super Bowl Host Committee will be getting some heavyweight help in spreading a positive message during the run-up to the big game.
On Tuesday, the committee introduced an all-star panel of Community Champions to represent the best we have to offer to the world.
The city is expecting about 6,000 credentialed media for the week leading up to Super Bowl LIX (59) in the Caesar’s Superdome.
The champions include Fox Sideline Reporter Jen Hale along with a few Saints superstars, including defensive end Cam Jordan, linebacker Demario Davis and safety Tyrann Mathieu.
Hale said, “It really is an incredibly unique opportunity to showcase who we are city is, what our history is, but also where we’re going in the future. I think that is just as important and just as exciting as where we’ve been.”
The All-Pro trio of Jordan, Davis and Mathieu have nonprofit foundations that help create positive change in the community, particularly among young people.
“First and foremost, God gave me so many blessings, how could I not want to share some of these blessings,” said Jordan, the Saints' all-time sacks leader (117.5). “My cup is overflowing at all times. That’s why I have so much energy. That’s why I have so much love for this city. That’s why I give so much because I have been given so much. It’s not a responsibility. It’s an opportunity.”
Davis said football is one of the greatest teachers in life.
“It teaches you unity. It teaches you how to respond to adversity," he explained. "It teaches you so much about life but most importantly, it teaches you that you can accomplish so much more together than you ever can alone.”
Mathieu attended St. Augustine High School in New Orleans and LSU. He said he gives back to his community because he remembers being a kid growing up in the city, needing hope and inspiration.
“This is something that comes strictly from the heart,” said Mathieu, a member of the NFL 2010's All-Decade Team. “I absolutely get joy out of being in the community, seeing kids encouraged, seeing kids be happy and proud really to represent New Orleans.”
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This is the 11th time New Orleans will host the Super Bowl.
The last one in 2013 had an economic impact of $480 million on the city and state.
“I just don’t believe anywhere, but the South understands hospitality like we do,” said Davis. “So, to have the opportunity to host the Super Bowl, the opportunity for a chance to play in the Super Bowl in the city, it just means the world.”
His Saints teammates also hope to make it all the way to the big game in their adopted hometown.
“We want to win the Super Bowl for this city,” claimed Jordan, a fellow All-Decade selection and eight-time Pro Bowler. “If we’re not in there, we want to make the greatest example of what New Orleans as a city is. It’s beyond football. It’s bigger than us, right now.”
“We all kind of hope to be playing in the big game, that Sunday,” admitted Mathieu, who won a Super Bowl ring in 2020 while with the Kansas City Chiefs. “But nevertheless, to invite people into our world, to invite them into our city, it means something to us.”
Davis said he wouldn’t want to win the Super Bowl in any other city.
“I want to win my Super Bowl right here in New Orleans for this team, for this city because it’s going to be different than anywhere else," said the former Jets and Browns defender, who was named All-Pro five straight seasons and selected to two straight Pro Bowls with the Saints. "That’s not taking away anything from anybody else, to celebrate us and who we are and that’s why this moment means the world to me.”
The Community Champions say they take their role as both a badge of honor and a call to action.
“The connection that you’re always going to have to the city is forever,” Jordan said. “That’s not only just great food, great people, but the excellence that has always been driven in the city of being what southern charm, southern hospitality should be.”
There are now five months and six days until Super Bowl 59 in the Caesar’s Superdome.
