The Details Of Prepping Levi’s Stadium For College Football Playoff’s Championship – Forbes

Buzz around the final four teams in the College Football Playoff has reached a new level of excitement ahead of the Jan. 7 championship game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. And while the final four won’t whittle to two until Dec. 29, the multi-year process of prepping to host college football’s biggest annual event will shift into a frantic phase just days before the game.

Whether growing a field specifically for the game, changing out every concession cup in the home of the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers or hanging an untold number of banners across the venue, the prepping of Levi’s Stadium has taken years of planning and culminates in a final week-long push ahead of Jan. 7.

“It is a highly scheduled sequence and production schedules are defined and movements are restricted down to the minutes sometimes,” says Jim Mercurio, vice president of operations and security for the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium. “We will be putting the final touches down Sunday (Jan. 6) night just to make sure it is given everything we want to be displayed.”

Back in November 2015 Levi’s Stadium received the selection to host the 2019 game, part of the CFP’s 10 games in 10 cities initiative, an effort to bring the game to as many regions as possible, says Bill Hancock, CFP executive director. From that time, the 49ers and Levi’s Stadium have worked hand-in-hand with the CFP team. Staff from the stadium have attended the last few CFP championship events, helped on the grounds crews and seen the setup and CFP staff have made monthly visits to Levi’s Stadium (they will have around 25 staff on site beginning Dec. 30).

Mercurio says about 80 percent of the preparation mimics that of any other major event — the building hosted the 2016 Super Bowl, for example — but what makes this endeavor so different than any other more localized event is that the vast majority of the 70,000 fans have never been on site before. And maybe never even to the Bay Area. He says the global communication outreach needed mimics that of trying to reach fans for the first time. “You have to open up that tool bag and not assume they know how to get here on transit,” he says. “There is a lot of extra emphasis on that sort of thing.”

While the CFP will put on plenty of experiences within San Jose, the stadium itself will plan for a four-day public event. Earlier preparation consideration is given to ESPN. The broadcaster will bring more cameras to the game than arrive for a Super Bowl. Multiple show sets go live in the days leading up to the game. The stadium must support ESPN with the necessary resources to broadcast, from power and signal, that wouldn’t otherwise be needed. “Those are new things you wouldn’t see in a normal football setup or non-NFL game of its size,” Mercurio says.

Then comes the 1,000 media members. Levi’s Stadium’s press box wasn’t designed for that many folks. Mercurio has to build another. “I have to clear out my largest storage area and have everything taken out — including the shelving — and build out an area for media to work the game,” he says. “That is probably one of the more difficult things we have to do operationally.” The nearly 20,000 square feet of space inside the venue won’t be seen by fans or on broadcasts, but remains an important aspect of hosting.

Outside the stadium, a CFP pregame tailgate experience allows anyone with a gameday ticket to come through the transformed parking lot — which changes the way the parking setup works and requires a shift in planning — to experience the concert and sponsorship activities. Officials expect 25,000 folks to go through the site.

Levi’s Stadium will move its typical employee check-in area to give space to CFP operations. They will create a larger secure perimeter to handle the tailgate, requiring the relocation of magnetometers. To help with the enlarged footprint, the game will take over a section of neighboring California’s Great America theme park for hospitality. “Now we are controlling that entrance once you get into there,” Mercurio says. “It allows us to be more effective and efficient in planning and screening so you don’t have a hodge-podge of entries and exits.” The revamped footprint also brings a new security plan, which Hancock dubs the top job in the multi-year planning process.

Inside the venue, expect a full rebrand. Hancock says the décor — the signage and pageantry — really helps transform “iconic pro stadiums into one that feels and looks like a college venue. “We want it to feel the same for the athletes and be the same for the media who cover the game every year, but for the fans there are certain aspects that will reflect the culture of the area,” he says. But along with celebrating the Bay Area, the game also celebrates the game of college football.

“The average fan watching at home, unfortunately, doesn’t have a chance to grasp the pageantry,” Hancock says. They will hang a banner for every school that plays in the Football Bowl Subdivision, something fans streaming into the venue will see, but probably not something that ever makes it into a television broadcast.

Changing out signs requires coordination of building scaffolding while still hosting other events. “The signage component of converting 49ers and Levi’s Stadium-branded to Levi’s Stadium CFP includes big graphics on the sides of buildings,” Mercurio says. “Those types of things are massive undertakings with a small window to pull those off.”

Food and beverage takes on a change. Catering during the week for the rush of employees on site — everyone from crews setting up to ESPN crews — needs to feed about 5,000 employees each day.

Then comes the gameday food and beverage. Not only does the Levi’s Stadium team create new menu items to celebrate the regions of the two teams participating, but they also need to accommodate for the sponsors of the CFP, which differ from that of the NFL or the 49ers. All regular concession cups and trays will get swapped out with CFP-branded product. The 49ers’ food and beverage partner, Levy, will also attempt to play off CFP sponsors, incorporating, for example, Dr. Pepper product into a dish. “Maybe it is a Dr. Pepper-infused barbecue sauce,” Mercurio says. “(Levy) is developing different types of recipes consistent with the potential teams that are in it right now so they will have a flare to them.”

And all the while, this changeover occurs during Levi’s Stadium’s busiest season. Holiday parties continue, sometimes nine per day. There are 30 private events scheduled inside the venue in December, with an estimated attendance of 15,000. “The flips of those rooms are equally important,” Mercurio says. “You will have a holiday part for 250 or a luncheon for 500 while trying to coordinate CFP activities. You have to be mindful of that. It is not just about having an event, but setting up for the next one and trying to make sure you have enough time for your signage package.”

The field itself requires careful consideration. From the Pac-12 Championship game on Nov. 30 to three home 49ers games in December to the Redbox Bowl on Dec. 31, the playing surface will garner heavy use. That’s one reason you can expect new turf for the CFP Championship, as is done every year.

The new turf, a hybrid Bermuda and perennial ryegrass, has grown for almost a year at California’s West Coast Turf. Growing on plastic, it can get harvested easily and without root disturbance for a two-and-a-half-day installation. The process of fitting the new turf inside Levi’s Stadium will start immediately following the Dec. 31 Redbox Bowl.

Along the way, the four semi-final teams will all get a chance to check out the stadium in mid-December, making a site visit to go over the logistics, if their team makes the championship game. They’ll learn the ins and outs of movement inside the stadium, see the lockerroom space and even pick out colors for the painting of the field.

When everything comes together on Jan. 7 and the ESPN cameras cover it all for the millions watching at home, know that the process to get to that point for Levi’s Stadium — from new sod with end zone colors painstakingly chosen to CFP-branded cups in the concessions or new security perimeters to choreographed scaffolding setups — requires years or preparation.