Modesto schools’ sports to benefit from big spenders at Super Bowl

Sunday, Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.

Super Bowl 50.

The Denver Broncos. The Carolina Panthers.

The Davis High School Spartans, Downey Knights and Modesto Christian Crusaders.

Yes, teams of locals have been training for their big-game performance – in concession booths. They have a long day ahead of them, serving suds, sausages, sodas, snacks and more, all for a cut of the profits.

The volunteers have to be at the stadium at 5:30 a.m. to go through a security process, including an FBI check, that could take a couple of hours, said Davis High Athletic Director Tim Garcia. Then it’s straight into booth setup, to be ready when the gates open at 11. After that, “with 68,500 people attending, we’ll be slammed from open to close.”

The Davis contingent is 32 people – among them athletics boosters, Principal Mike Rich and Garcia. Downey and Modesto Christian have smaller groups going, and all are required to be 18 or older.

The volunteers have a good idea of what to expect because they have been staffing concession booths at the stadium since it opened. The school groups work under a program offered by the Levi’s Stadium caterer/hospitality service, Centerplate, to benefit nonprofits.

“We’ve worked all the 49er home games, a Taylor Swift concert, a One Direction concert, Wrestlemania, a Barcelona-Madrid soccer game, hockey games,” Garcia said. “Big-money” days like the Super Bowl have been boosters events, he said, but all individual sports have had opportunities to send their own groups to raise money specifically for themselves.

For most events, the groups earn 6 percent of alcohol sales, 8 percent of food, Garcia said. At certain other events, perhaps when Centerplate is having trouble filling booths, they are paid a flat per-person fee, he said. Davis’ biggest haul was one such event: the Dec. 26 Foster Farms Bowl game between Nebraska and UCLA, when the boosters made $13,000.

More typical is around $3,000, Garcia said, and the haul depends on how many volunteers go and how big a crowd the event draws. For a 49ers home game, 16 to 20 Davis folks usually go.

“I think what’s pretty impressive is how the coaches and parents have rallied around this, to get 14, 18, 20 people to commit to go to an event on a Thursday night or a Sunday afternoon,” he said.

The boosters have been making a strong fundraising push to buy uniforms and equipment for teams, Garcia said.

“This is a way to improve things across the board for the kids. ... (It’s also) a way for each sport to get involved in addition to what boosters do,” he said.

Over the past two seasons, Davis has made at least $50,000, Garcia estimated. As of Thursday, he hadn’t heard whether the pay for Sunday’s work will be a percentage or flat fee.

“If we get a percentage, we anticipate making more than we ever have,” he said. “People are not going to the Super Bowl to pinch pennies.”

At Modesto Christian, wrestling team supporters have been doing the Levi’s Stadium work. They’ve been to about 18 games and other events, said coach Tony Luna, and have raised $12,000 to $15,000. Typically, 10 to 12 volunteers go to an event, he said. The highest has been 18, and the group working the Super Bowl numbers only eight.

Downey High’s volunteer work has been under the boosters umbrella.

“The first season, we sent a group to all of the 49er games and a few other events at the stadium,” said Athletic Director Stephen Garrett. “This year, we were only able to work a few events.” The usual group is seven to 10 volunteers, he said, but there have been as many as 21. Garrett estimated the group has raised $20,000.

It’s good money, but it’s not easy money.

For a 1 p.m. football game, volunteers have to be at the stadium by 8 a.m. “So you have to leave (Modesto) about 6:30 a.m. and don’t get home until about 8 or 9 at night,” Garcia said. “It’s a long, grinding day. You get breaks, but you’re not allowed to really go and watch the game. There are TV screens in the stands, so you can see a bit there. It’s more about the experience and the energy.”

For the Super Bowl, the NFL is overseeing concessions, Garcia said, so volunteers had to attend a few special sessions at the stadium regarding security. But the work in the booths should be largely the same.

Groups are responsible for setup, serving and cleanup. Davis volunteers will work 18 registers, provide a booth supervisor and money manager, have runners taking the food from cooks to counter, fill orders for servers who take food to fans in their seats and do food preparation such as heating hot dogs and making salads, Garcia said. Stadium cooks prepare the main dishes, he said.

Because the volunteers wear Centerplate uniforms (though they have special shirts and caps for the Super Bowl), “we hear the complaints – prices being too high, lines too long. They don’t know we’re volunteers; they think we’re stadium employees,” Garcia said.

“There’s really no downtime once the gates open. The biggest times are before the game and during halftime, of course, and there’s usually a rush before alcohol sales are cut off, typically toward the end of the third quarter.”

This story was originally published February 6, 2016 at 2:43 PM with the headline "Modesto schools’ sports to benefit from big spenders at Super Bowl."