A Super Experience
vBy Rob Nielsen
Last February, the upper Midwest was treated to the second Super
Bowl to be hosted in Minneapolis.
Making sure the fans in the Twin Cities for Super Bowl LII were
entertained was a gargantuan task, but Katie Blaalid of Yankton and
nearly 13,000 other volunteers helped to make it so.
A Yearly Event
Before taking to the Super Bowl, Blaalid admits she’d never had a
huge interest in football, with one exception.
“The only interest I ever really had in football was watching my
brother as a Yankton Buck,” Blaalid said. “He was No. 73. At a young
age, I always enjoyed watching my brother play football and, at the end
seeing his friends on the field. I’d get great big hugs because I was only
in first grade when he played.”
However, she said that she does enjoy the spectacle.
“I’m just like a big cheerleader for pretty much anything that’s social
and fun that brings people together,” she said.
And she’s even found the yearly spectacle of the Super Bowl
impossible to ignore.
“That’s a yearly event watching the Super Bowl, watching the ads,
watching the live performances,” she said. “That’s always been a part of
my life. When I was in college as a Contemporary Media & Journalism
major, that was also an assignment that we always had to have —
watching the ads.”
Crew 52
The journey to Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis began simply
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enough — with a friend’s recommendation.
“My friend Jennifer was like, ‘We should apply to be a volunteer
for the Super Bowl,’” she said. “I went on right away and filled out an
application. A few months later, they asked if I wanted to interview.”
However, Blaalid would not be joined by her friend in Minnesota.
“I asked Jennifer, ‘When’s your interview?’ She’s like, ‘What’re you
talking about?” Blaalid said. “She’s like, ‘No, I never applied.’”
From there, Blaalid started the process of becoming a Crew 52
volunteer to help with the Super Bowl LIVE experience.
“I went to my interview that I had to drive to Minneapolis for,” she
said. “It was very short and sweet, but there was a lot of people there,
so it was kind of nerve-wracking. “
Blaalid said she was asked questions such as “Do you want to be
the face of Minnesota? Do you smile? Do you have the personality?”
Soon after, Blaalid found out she’d been accepted.
“I was at work and I noticed I had a missed phone call and there
was a voicemail,” she said. “They had this nice little voicemail saying
that I’d been accepted to be a volunteer for Crew 52. I was really
excited.”
She then had to venture up to Minneapolis three times for
mandatory training sessions.
With more than 13,000 volunteers set to help with one of the
biggest annual sporting events in the world, volunteer training took
place at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. She would also get her
uniform there. Despite all of the time and financial ramifications of
preparing to volunteer, Blaalid remained unfazed.
“I was also thinking how this is definitely worth it with the
experience, the time and the people I’m going to meet,” she said. “I
was blessed to have a friend that actually lives in Minnetonka, so I got
to stay with her, so that definitely helped with the cost.”
‘It Was So Cold’
Then came the big weekend itself — Super Bowl weekend in
Minnesota.
Blaalid said it was her goal to be as close to the action as possible.
“We had an app and as soon as the app opened, you could sign up
for your shifts,” she said. “For Super Bowl LII, they’d have live events
for 10 days, so you had to sign up for at least
three shifts, and they’re five-hour shifts. Right
away, I wanted to be there the weekend of the
Super Bowl because I wanted to be in the heart
of the action.”
Blaalid signed
up for shifts Friday,
Saturday and Sunday
where she would be
reminded of one of
the hard facts about
Minnesota — it’s chilly
in February.
“Being there was
magical,” she said. “It
was so cold. I thought
being from South
Dakota, I could totally
handle the cold. Being
of Norwegian descent,
I could totally handle it, but it
was so cold. You get a soup ticket
when you’re volunteering, so you
get a little break to have soup and