For the seventh year in a row, South Hadley’s Kyle Belanger finds himself patrolling Radio Row at the Super Bowl this week.
It’s a much more intimate gathering this time around.
What Belanger normally sees at the Super Bowl consists of the hustle and bustle of a week-long sports takeover. This year’s event in Tampa Bay is not the typical fare however. Instead of hundreds of tables occupying the convention center assigned for media entities, Belanger said he counted 42 tables encompassing a whole room when he arrived in Florida on Monday.
“It’s immensely different this year,” explained Belanger, chair of the South Hadley School Committee. “The mission is still the same, but how it’s all happening is vastly different.”
That mission for Belanger and his crew, led by South Hadley native and president of Antero Sports Chris Visser, involves promoting the work of the Wounded Warriors Project. The organization has held a benefit football game against former NFL players for nearly a decade during Super Bowl week, but due to the pandemic, this year’s game was canceled.
Undeterred, the organization, spurred by chief sponsor Sierra Delta, is holding a “Salute to Service Stroll” along the Riverwalk in Tampa on Saturday. Belanger said Sierra Delta is a non-profit that provides service dogs for veterans, making it a natural partner for the Wounded Warriors Project.
Belanger has worked with Wounded Warriors and Antero Sports for the past seven Super Bowls, setting up media promotional opportunities throughout the mad-scramble that is Radio Row.
“Normally we have corporate sponsors but this year we’re really focusing on the service piece of Wounded Warriors through promoting Sierra Delta,” Belanger offered. “Instead of a game, we’re doing what we can… raising awareness for the need to provide more service dogs.”
Belanger’s week, which began a day earlier than expected as he hurried out of New England to beat Monday’s snowstorm, is still plenty busy despite no charity game on the horizon. An assistant professor of communications at Springfield College, Belanger will still teach his classes remotely while in Tampa, something he’s done throughout his time traveling to the Super Bowl.
He’s weaved his work down south into lessons for his students. That work involves taking a slew of former NFL players, coaches and personalities and booking them on media programs throughout the country. This year’s roster that Belanger will work with includes coaches like Jeff Fisher and Dick Vermeil, as well as NFL vets Kevin Mawae, Keenan McCardell and Ahman Green.
“Typically in a normal, non-pandemic year where 180 tables are completely full of radio stations here, in a matter of 15 yards you can hit up six stations from six different areas of the country,” Belanger explained. “This year, it’s different. Not more or less difficult necessarily but it was all telephone. So I’m texting with different program directors across the country, people I have relationships with, trying to get these guys on their shows. But the remote thing, the calculus of trying to figure out time zones when you’re not all sitting in the same room, those are things that are different than in years past.”
Having clients calling into radio shows also changes the dynamics of Belanger’s job as a producer. Instead of watching the likes of Fisher and Mawae right next to him with the ability to catch their attention, he has to hope the media entities are mentioning Wounded Warriors and the Riverwalk planned for Saturday without as much control.
“As a producer, my job is to stand there and make sure the host is getting what they want but also make sure my client gets what it wants. The plug that my clients have paid for,” he said. “You have to lean more on the people you’ve made relationships with over the years this time since I can’t physically make eye contact or catch their attention if that isn’t happening.”
With Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski back in the Super Bowl, there’s certainly plenty of interest from New England fans in this year’s game. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are also the first team in NFL history to play in their home stadium for the Big Game. Belanger said that Tampa has done a nice job showcasing itself as a host for this year’s contest.
“The city is really doing a beautiful job with it,” he said. “From what I have seen so far of Tampa, when I think of the natural beauty of a city versus what they’ve done with it, it’s right up with the top cities that I’ve been to for a Super Bowl.
“I think of Atlanta, which was absolutely beautiful with its Super Bowl vision. Houston was so uniquely situated where everything was very central. This is right up there visually with the most stunning.”
Belanger, who said he’s never stayed for the actual Super Bowl game on Sunday, will return to Western Mass. Friday night.