Under the newly constructed and much-welcomed 8.0 patio shade screen, Mayor Mike Moncrief, Ed Bass, John Goff of Crescent Real Estate, and Stephanie Druley of ESPN announce the exciting news that downtown Fort Worth will host ESPN’s coveted broadcast center during the entire week leading up to Superbowl XLV. The final seven minutes of the press-conference features Moncrief at his most passionate,
offering a touching tribute to his wife Rosie for her role in orchestrating this coup, as well as shout-outs to scores of others involved — capped with a Mayoral proclamation the exclamation that says it all: “How cool is this gonna be, Fort Worth?” The foursome explained at-length the secret reconnosaince mission and their various perspectives of the bid leading up to ESPN’s ultimate decision to pick downtown Fort Worth. A perk of the mayoral office is the ability to make proclamations, and of ESPN Moncrief had remarked “All of the ESPN folks are friends of Fort Worth for life and I think as your Mayor I can proclam that… and I do!”
In his seven years as mayor, this ranks amongst his most enthusiastic speeches. Moncrief ended the conference with a phrase that alludes to the ominous excitement building towards the last week of January 2011: “Friends, this is a super day, a super day to celebrate a super partner in a super city. I look forward to seeing all our citizens during the week of Superbowl XLV and watching ESPN broadcast to the world. How cool is that gonna be, Fort Worth? How cool is that gonna be?” If only he had a cowboy hat to toss into the air.