Chevron to Help Gather 8,000 Volunteers for Super Bowl XLVII

NEW ORLEANS -- Chevron will serve as a major corporate sponsor and volunteer services partner for next year's Super Bowl XLVII, to take place in New Orleans' Mercedes-Benz Superdome on February 3, 2013, announced the New Orleans Super Bowl Host Committee and the New Orleans Saints. As part of its role, Chevron will kick off a drive to find 8,000 volunteers for the game, according to a Times-Picayune report.

"We support the communities that we operate in, so it was a fairly easy decision for us to do that," said Warner Williams, vice president of Chevron North America exploration and production company/Gulf of Mexico business unit. "Any time you can help facilitate $400 million in local revenue or help create 6,000 jobs with an event, it's a no-brainer. We want this to go off very well, so we stepped up to the table."

Although the terms of Chevron's sponsorship were not disclosed, a host committee executive stated they are "substantial," and the partnership has helped increase the host committee's fundraising to more than $5 million. It has a budget of $12 million, with the goal of raising $6 million privately to go along with $6 million from the state of Louisiana.

Chevron will also use some of its staff to help support the volunteer services program, according to the report.

"Chevron brings a different level of involvement to the table like we have never seen before," said Jay Cicero, executive director of the host committee. "Their entire project team is involved with our volunteer management staff."

Cicero noted that while the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation has more than 9,000 names in its database of volunteers, they will likely need more than 13,000 candidates in order to fill the 8,000 spots for the Super Bowl.