If you have a Super Bowl, and no media show up, does it make a sound? That’s the question I was asking myself during my volunteer shift yesterday morning. My gig was from 7:00am until 12:00pm at Metro Airport. My assignment: to ride the shuttles with media from the airport to their hotels in Detroit and Livonia. During my 5 hour shift I encountered exactly 5 media (not counting Pat Vitaly from WWJ) at the Macnamara Terminal. Needless to say it was a little boring.
Now clearly there are media in Detroit, and they are here for Super Bowl XL. Some have written positive things, others have written realistic things, and others have just been mean. But where how were they getting in without being seen? From what I was able to gather by eavesdropping on various conversations, the people in the terminals (like gate agents and such) didn’t know about the media shuttles departing from the baggage claim area. So it seemed that some members of the media were being directed to conventional ground transportation instead of the shuttles.
That’s not to say there weren’t volunteers warmly welcoming incoming travelers. They were stationed prominently at the entrance to the baggage claim area. But for the media who didn’t check bags, they’d have no reason to encounter these volunteers.
So the 10 volunteers stationed to greet the media were bored to say the least. That’s why when Michael Freeman and Vito Stenelli from the Florida Union Times showed up to ride the shuttle, 3 volunteers (including myself) jumped at the chance for some action. After a brief 10 minute rate another gentleman from DC hopped aboard and the volunteers could go man-to-man with the media on a full size motor coach for the 20 minute ride downtown.
We did the spiel, played the video, and talked up the city of Detroit to no end. Both Freeman and Stenelli had been to Detroit before, but didn’t seem to recognize it. The place looked nice. The ride in was smooth, and Jefferson was actually bustling. Now the reporters from Jacksonville probably aren’t going to rip the city considering the treatment they received last year. However, at least for that bus ride, Detroit looked impressive.
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