Keith Bruce’s Healdsburg ties helping Sonoma wines at Super Bowl 50

Regardless of who wins the Vince Lombardi trophy today in Santa Clara, Keith Bruce is rooting for the Bay Area to come out a Super Bowl winner.

Bruce, 50, a part-time Healdsburg resident, is the CEO of the Super Bowl 50 Host Committee, the group responsible for making sure this golden anniversary sporting event is a success.

The NFL handles today’s game at Levi Stadium between the Denver Broncos and the Carolina Panthers, as well as the half-time show. But the host committee is responsible for most other details, including the raising of $50 million from corporate sponsors.

Other duties include event operations, hospitality, transportation, logistics, fan experiences, marketing and security.

To top it off, the committee has pledged to make this “the most giving Super Bowl ever.” The bulk of its donations will go to Bay Area charities for under-served youth and those that address environmental and sustainability issues.

To oversee the operations, in September 2013 the host committee turned to Bruce, then president of San Rafael’s SportsMark Management Group, a global sports marketing and event management company. His work for corporate sponsors has involved him in 14 of the last 15 Super Bowls, six Olympics, 10 NCAA Final Four tournaments and a few FIFA World Cups.

Bruce resides primarily in Marin County but has owned a second home in Healdsburg for more than 15 years. His connections to Wine Country helped bring on board Sonoma County’s combined wine and tourism industry as a Super Bowl “destination partner.”

For the last week, the county’s wineries have hosted a popular wine pavilion in Super Bowl City at San Francisco’s Justin Herman Plaza. Meanwhile, local tourism officials have offered tours to game visitors wishing to explore the area north of the Golden Gate.

Below Bruce shares a little about what Super Bowl 50 means for Wine Country and the greater Bay Area.

Q: Why did you want to take on the challenge as CEO of the host committee?

A: The opportunity to run Super Bowl 50, which in and of itself will be the largest and most celebrated Super Bowl in the history of the NFL. It’ll be arguably the largest event ever in the Bay Area … certainly one of the top events.

There’s just not too many opportunities in your life to have that kind of opportunity to make a difference and to create an event that really kind of changes the way that Super Bowls are produced and presented. So it was just a really interesting opportunity for me at the right time in my career to do this.

Q: Tell us a little about the preparations.

A: Relevant to your part of the world, Sonoma County, we have what’s called a destination partner. That’s something that I created to essentially make sure that the tourism meccas of Wine Country and Pebble Beach were able to participate with Super Bowl and attract visitors up to the region and get out in front of that.

So Sonoma County Vintners was our first destination partner, followed by Pebble Beach and then Napa Valley joined in as the last destination partner.

(We are) so very happy with the relationships we have with Wine Country and Pebble Beach, and I think they’re going to be the beneficiaries this week of a lot of people coming into the region to take day trips up to the Wine Country or to go down and play golf.

Pebble Beach is sold out this week. It’s the week before the AT&T Pebble Beach (tournament). They’re never sold out this week, but they are because of Super Bowl.

Q: Other than the game, what events will draw the biggest crowds?

A: We’re expecting over a million people to flow through Super Bowl City and (at the Moscone Center) the NFL Experience over the course of the nine days. And certainly based on the crowds we’ve seen on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, with the good weather, we’re well on track to hit that number. San Francisco is the place to be in terms of fans who are wanting to enjoy free-to-the-public or low-cost ways to have fun around Super Bowl.

Q: How is the host committee helping Bay Area charities?

A: We have raised already over $12 million for the 50 Fund. The 50 Fund is our 501c3 charitable arm that is essentially our mechanism to ensure that money goes directly into local Bay Area nonprofits who need it most.

At the website (impact.50fund.org), you’ll see every single nonprofit in the Bay Area broken out by county who received money from the 50 Fund, how much did they receive and how many young adults have been affected and impacted by that giving.

So there’s a real mission here to change the way that giving and community can come together around a big event like the Super Bowl and also just (be) operated from a transparency standpoint so people really know where the money’s going.

Q: How did Sonoma County’s wine and tourism businesses become part of the Super Bowl festivities?

A: So obviously with my home in Healdsburg, I’ve gotten to know a lot of folks in the wine industry. I’m very good friends with Honore Comfort, who at the time was the executive director of the Sonoma County Vintners. So she put together a meeting with herself, Ken Fischang (CEO of Sonoma County Tourism) and Karissa Kruse (president of the Sonoma County Wine Grape Commission.) And so I came in and presented to all of their boards about an opportunity to bring wine a little more forward into the Super Bowl 50 experience. I think the America’s Cup tried to do so some things with wine that worked out, you know, had varying degrees of success.

So Sonoma County was very interested and engaged in that idea, and that’s why they have the Sonoma County Wine Pavilion, which is exclusive to Sonoma County, and it gives them an opportunity to pour wine to all the fans in Super Bowl City, sell wine … and then be able to engage with all of these fans from the Bay Area and from around the country and around the world.

But Tourism was a big piece of it, too … so we set up a concierge program … A lot of corporate companies, they buy hospitality packages and they’re looking for things for their customers to do. So Sonoma County, as well as Napa Valley, are well equipped to receive those visitors through our concierge program.

I think they’re out there reaping the benefits right now. The Sonoma County Wine Pavilion is one of the hottest attractions in Super Bowl City. It’s packed. I mean, from the minute it opens at 11 a.m. to the minute it closes, it’s one of the most highly trafficked exhibits in Super Bowl City

A: What do you say to those who question the economic benefits of such Super Bowl efforts?

Q: There is clearly an opportunity here for Wine Country to step up in what is normally a very slow time. You know, early February is not a time when people go to the Wine County. But they’re here for Super Bowl City … So it’s kind of a no-brainer. If you put two and two together, you’ve got a million people flowing through this region for Super Bowl week. You’ve got opportunities where we’ve put Wine Country front and center. And I think they’ve done a good job, both Sonoma and Napa, of getting out in front of the opportunity and attracting people up to the region.

Q: Do you have any estimate what the Super Bowl will mean in terms of economic impact for the region?

A: We will have an economic impact study. Past Super Bowls have done economic impact studies and they varied widely in terms of the total true positive, you know, the net economic impact, if you will, anywhere from $150 to $200 million all the way up to $500 or $600 million, depending on the region.

So we are definitely going to realize an economic impact that’s quite high, just based on the fact that it’s the 50th Super Bowl, so many people are looking forward to coming to the Bay Area for this event, and the trend line certainly suggests that we’ll have a very strong economic impact study coming out in the spring or summer.

Q: Will San Francisco get placed on the regular rotation for hosting Super Bowls?

A: Well, we hope so. I mean, I think we have to get through this week first. We’ve got to deliver a world-class event once these (NFL team) owners get into town. Because the 32 owners ultimately decide where the Super Bowl goes every year when they vote. And so, all we can do is put on the best possible event for everybody involved.

And I think if we can touch them all in a way where they leave the Bay Area next Monday or Tuesday and they say, “Wow, that was really a spectacular event, so much to see and do, the Bay Area’s a great host,” well then we’ve won.

There’s no question that the NFL would like to see more Super Bowls on the West Coast, and so we are in kind of a unique position to get it back here every five or six years and get on that rotation.

Q: Some San Francisco supervisors say the city got taken advantage of because it will end up paying an estimated $4.8 million for police and other services during Super Bowl week. Did San Francisco get a raw deal?

A: No, we don’t believe they did, and they don’t either. There are a couple supervisors who might feel differently, but I think the greater opinion has already been weighed and spoken to. The fact of the matter is that city of San Francisco and Santa Clara and the 49ers all made commitments when they bid on Super Bowl 50 three years ago. And the Board of Supervisors at the time voted unanimously to support that bid and the commitments being made by the city.

The city of San Francisco is also going to benefit from all the revenue. They have over 18,000 hotel rooms booked. They have the restaurants that are packed and will be packed this week. So there’ll be a lot of taxes and revenue that the city of San Francisco will gain from it. So the net at the end of day - you know, the city will be in the black. It will earn more than any cost investment.

Q: Besides the game, what will Super Bowl 50 be remembered for?

A: Well, I hope it’s remembered as a world-class event that made the Bay Area shine.

You can reach Staff Writer Robert Digitale at 521-5285 or robert.digitale@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @rdigit