Jay Cicero
President and CEO | Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation
No matter who ends up playing in Super Bowl LIX on Feb. 9, the unofficial quarterback of the event has long been Jay Cicero. As head of the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation, it’s his job to bring large sporting events to the city, and for this particularly colossal event — which earned the title of most watched program in U.S. history in 2024 — work began back in 2018.
Seven years later, the big day is almost here, and New Orleans is ready, thanks to the efforts of close to 1,000 individuals, along with tremendous support from the New Orleans Saints and companies including Entergy and Chevron.
Cicero has had a bit of experience with the Super Bowl — he previously served in his present role as president and CEO of New Orleans’ Super Bowl Host Committee for two of the 10 times the city has hosted (2002 and 2013) and was vice president of operations for the committee when New Orleans hosted in 1997.
Now, as the city prepares to take center stage to a worldwide audience (an average of 123.4 million viewers watched last year and an estimated 6,000 media will be in town) we invite you to get to know a bit about our MVP, Jay Cicero, Biz New Orleans Magazine’s 2024 CEO of the Year.
What was your childhood like? Were you always a big sports fan?
Yeah, my father, Frank Cicero, was a high school teacher and coach at Jesuit High School in Shreveport, so I grew up in sports and around a lot of coaches and sports people. He coached there for 45 years. He is a legend up there. He has a street and a stadium named after him.
Did you play any sports?
I played baseball in high school, but I’m still the same size I was then, believe it or not. I always had great hands, but I could not hit the curveball. I was a second baseman, and the second baseman, besides the catcher, they kind of run what’s happening on the field, so that was my role because I was the coach’s son.
What was your first job out of college?
I went to Louisiana Tech and graduated in marketing and interviewed with the Texas Rangers with a guy who ran the parking lots. The offer, I think, was $400 a month. I thought I couldn’t move to Dallas and live on $400 a month, though, so I turned it down. That was a mistake. I should have accepted the offer and got my foot in the door. But two years later, I was working in Minor League Baseball in Shreveport — there was a Double-A team there called the Shreveport Captains. I worked there for five seasons, and I loved it.
What were you doing there?
I was doing sales, marketing, publishing of programs — doing everything, just like most people do in Minor League Baseball — and I worked my way up to assistant general manager.
When did you arrive in New Orleans?
I moved to New Orleans in 1990 and worked briefly for WWL Radio selling sports. At the same time, I was volunteering my time for the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation.
The day we were awarded the Olympic U.S. track and field trials, which was Dec. 5, 1990 — I never forget the date they hired me on full-time with the organization — I was the third full-time employee. Together, we managed the trials in 1992 and led the renovation of Tad Gormley Stadium, where they were held.
Doug Thornton, senior vice president at ASM Global, was a volunteer for us at the time, and he actually led the volunteer charge to renovate Tad Gormley Stadium in City Park.
Then, the next year, in 1993, the Zephyrs moved to New Orleans from Denver, and I was hired as the first general manager of the Zephyrs. Then in late ’94, the team was sold.
Meanwhile, Thornton had become the CEO of the Sports Foundation. He hired me back on Jan. 1, 1995, and we hosted numerous events, including the U.S. Gymnastics National Championships at the Superdome — which we just announced is coming back to us in 2025 after 30 years — as well as a bunch of other events, including the 1997 Super Bowl. Then Doug left to become the general manager at the Superdome, and I became the CEO in June of 1997. I’ve been here ever since.
What’s the toughest part about what you do?
Raising the funds is always the most difficult piece of the job. Funding depends on the event, and every event is different. The owners of the event dictate how you can raise funds. Most of the events that we do require public fund support through the state of Louisiana. Other funds we raise privately, either through sponsorships, donations, event-related revenue like ticket sales or food and beverage, or any other way that we can.
The challenge is to keep New Orleans competitive with other cities that have significantly more Fortune 500 companies and Fortune 1000 companies, not only in their metropolitan area, but in their entire state, than we do.
Remaining competitive is something that we focus on as a sports foundation. Because we’re here year-round and provide this expertise year-round, we keep the event expenses lower than what they may be for other cities.
What does your team look like?
We’re fairly small year-round — a staff of 12. Right now, for the Super Bowl, we staffed up and including our interns and student workers, we’re at about 30 people.
We’re basically organized like any event. You have a marketing side, which is raising the funds and sponsorships, etc. That also includes a membership program. And then we have the operational side that is responsible for executing everything associated operationally with the events, including volunteers. Our volunteer program for the Super Bowl, for example, is sponsored by Chevron and includes about 7,000 people, so managing that is a process in itself. But there are all the other operational aspects of the events — the move-in, move-out, security, transportation.
There’s also a media and PR side and an administrative side.
How does the Super Bowl compare to other events?
There’s nothing like the Super Bowl. There’s no doubt about it. Other events have their strengths, like the NCAA Men’s Final Four — we have managed four of those. That’s a great event because fans of the four teams make up most of the folks that attend. That brings a different spirit, a different joy to that event that you don’t get with a Super Bowl.
The Super Bowl has a lot of traveling fans, but the majority of attendees are “corporately” invited from either NFL sponsors, their partners, our pop our partners as a host committee, or other corporations that are interested in entertaining a lot of people at the biggest entertainment event that moves around the country each year.
How would you describe your leadership style?
I like to focus on the big picture as much as I can, but my staff tells me I don’t (laughs). It really depends on what time of the year leading up to the event we’re in. So right now, only a few months out, I’m not involved in as much detail as I was six months ago, a year ago, 18 months ago. It’s about being able to coach the staff, to set them in positions to be successful, to be able to give them the support that they need, whether that’s to have our volunteer board serve in different roles to offset their workload or to bring different thoughts to them.
I report to a number of different groups — including our board and executive committee — depending on the events and what’s happening at the time and what we’re working on so it’s unique.
These events are cumbersome, and it will have been almost seven years since we were awarded the event to the time we’re actually hosting it, so the world has changed since then. I’m not sure there’s much that could come up that we haven’t dealt with before, but as I say that, I’m sure something will between now and Feb. 9.
Growing up with a dad as a coach what kind of leadership skills or lessons did you learn from him?
A lot, actually. To try and instill a little humor and I think service. I tell our staff that all the time — service, service, service is what we’re here to provide, whether that is servicing the NFL, the state of Louisiana, city of New Orleans, our board of directors, our sponsors or ourselves.
What did he think about your career?
He loved it. He was really proud. And of course, you always want to make your parents proud of you, but he was always interested and attended a lot of the big events that we had. It was just fun to have him around and introduce him to people and be able to have him experience a little bit about what we do, what we go through.
What are you most proud of in your career so far?
I think the longevity of my career and then having some lifelong friends that were created through hosting these events. When you bid on the event, when you manage it, you’re holding the hands of the event owner because they’re not here all the time. You’re holding their hands through the changes that may have happened since you bid upon it. You’re helping navigate all the New Orleans vernacular, all the potholes. You’re helping solve problems with them. And when you do that, you create a bond with these event owners that is very strong.
We just [hosted] the three people who have managed the last 45 years of Super Bowl last week at our honors luncheon on the floor of the Superdome. These are lifelong friends, with the two that did it 30 years prior, and we’re creating that lifelong friendship with the guy that does it now. It’s the same thing for the NBA and NBA All-Star game, for the NCAA Men’s Final Four, Women’s Final Four and other major events.
With such a demanding job, how do you find balance?
I like to play golf. I haven’t been able to play for a long time though. I actually take care of my yard. I push-mow my yard. And that is when I get all my good ideas. It just kind of sets me back. I learned that from my days in baseball and taking care of the field, and my dad teaching me how to do that, to manicure in a certain way.
I also spend time with my family. My wife, Lisa, and I have five children between us, ages 25 to 30. We have two grandkids and another on the way in April. Our oldest is in New York, a son, and then one in Austin. Everybody else is here between New Orleans and the North Shore.
I try to have a good work-life balance, but it’s not possible when we are approaching a major event. But I have learned over the years how important that is, and I do a lot better job of it now than I used to.
What is your big goal in 2025?
A big one is to educate the business community and our elected officials about the role of the sports foundation and understanding that we take the risk on these events for the economic benefit of the state and city, and that these events don’t just come because we have the French Quarter and a bunch of hotels and the Superdome. It takes a business proposition that beats other cities to be able to host these major events, and it takes a lot of expertise and experience and resources to manage them. That’s a real goal — to make sure that, through hosting the Super Bowl, that these constituents understand who and what we do.
