How did YOU get to go to the superbowl?
I won a sweepstakes. I went to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas
in January and entered a contest at the Canon booth of all places. I
had to swipe my conference ID card in 4 of their card readers to enter.
You mean people actually win those sweepstakes?
Yup.
Wow, what were the odds of winning?
I’m not sure, but I think they were pretty good. First you had to go to
CES. Then you had to go to the Canon booth. Then you had to swipe your
card through all 4 readers. I imagine they through out any entries from
people who didn’t live in the USA, but I’m not sure. There were plenty
of people from Asia and Europe at CES, so if they did throw out those entries
my odds were that much improved. And I wasn’t the first winner. Someone
else won before me, but they never called back to claim their prize. So
they called the 1st runner up -- me.
Who organized it?
A company called
PSP Sports set everything up for Canon.
Did Canon give you any free cameras or lenses?
Yes, sort of. Unbelievably one week before I was supposed to leave, my
large 100-400mm lens broke beyond local repair. Panicked, I called PSP
Sports and asked them if they had any pull with Canon to set me up with
a temporary replacement. It would have been a shame for me to go to such
an expensive Canon event all huffy that I didn’t have my favorite lens.
They were thankfully very gracious and responsive, and they set me up with
a loaner 28-300mm lens.
What did you win? What did the package include?
I won a trip for 2 which included airfare, hotel, ground transportation,
all meals including dinner at wonderful French restaurant, tickets to the
game, 2 meet-and-greets, a choice between a round of golf or a trip to the
Kennedy Space Center, optional Daytona 24-hour race entry, and a few
souveneirs. Basically we didn’t have to think about anything – it was
all completely arranged so that all we had to do was show up on time.
Did you have to pay taxes?
I have to pay taxes on my 2005 return. I’m not looking forward to it, but
this was a trip of a lifetime. The flyer says that the package was worth
$12,000. I have many once-in-a-lifetime trips on this website, but I’d
probably much rather pay to repeat one or two of the other ones than do
another SuperBowl trip. Of course if I were doing it on my own, I could do it a lot cheaper.
Who did you take?
I took my dad.
Why didn’t you take your wife, you bum?
Because we have a 2-year-old daughter that couldn’t go on this trip.
After talking over various options we agreed that my dad would probably
enjoy the trip. He sure did. He’s still talking about it.
Were you alone or a part of a larger group?
We were part of a group of about 90 that PSP Sports put together. Also
staying at our hotel were two other large groups. One of them was from
Jack Daniels, and they had some pretty cool party busses. But they didn’t
do any of the activities that we did.
What kind of people were in your group?
All kinds. From CEOs, presidents, and vice presidents, to other lucky
contest winners, to fortunate customers of sponsored vendors. Mostly
people didn’t ask, "what do you do for a living?" They asked, "What’s
your business?" Everyone we met was very nice and everyone had some great
stories. Some people were attending their 7th SuperBowl, some their first.
Did you meet any football stars?
Well, we missed Tim Brown from the Oakland Raiders by about 1/2 hour. Our plane
was one of the last to arrive and we just missed him. Thankfully the organizers
thought to get us autographs. We also met Chad Lewis, the tight end from the
Eagles who injured himself in the playoff game.
Where were your seats?
Section Z (26th row) in the S/W corner of the endzone. They were great seats
when the action was down on our side of the field, but it was hard to see
anything when the plays were on the other side.
Why didn’t you sell your tickets? You could have made a fortune.
Yes, I suppose so. But I didn't come all the way from Arizona to NOT go to
the Superbowl.
What do the prize documents look like?
Click here
for the actual announcement letter in Word format (names and addresses deleted).
