OK. So, I just spoke with Maura Gast, head of the Irving Convention & Visitors Bureau, and sorry, but there won't be any T-shirts or bumper stickers or posters available bearing "The Last Tailgate Party" logo. "I've got more bubble gum than I can chew," she says, meaning: She's busy enough without having to worry about that added mishegas.
She did cough up another version of the logo -- and the designer: Irving CVB's ad agency of record, Maloney Strategic Communications, which also counts the Dallas Cowboys and Coca-Cola among its clients. But the logo, which made its debut only yesterday, won't be seen by many outside of the digital domain: It'll be used for a Facebook page, at the city's VIP event shortly before blow-up and in an e-mail blast sent this very morning "to people who've been inquiring about the stadium coming down," says Gast.
Still, seems like the city's missing an opportunity here: Gast, referring to the Deadspin item this morning ("Irving To Milk One Last Cash Grab Out Of Texas Stadium"), points out that the $25 being charged to observe the demolition on April 11 from the red lot is going to charity -- "for starters." She says, "We'll have staff out there, bathrooms, everything necessary to make it comfortable. And the lot's owned by the University of Dallas, so we're working with them. The proceeds will go to the University of Dallas and a group of Irving charities the city council will finalize next week."
So, nobody's making a profit off this? "No," she says, laughing. "Six million to blow up a stadium? No one's profiting."
Then
... why not sell "Last Tailgate Party" tees and posters and mugs and
whatnots and whathaveyous in the lot that morning? Make a little extra
for the city? For the charities? Do it for the kids!
"I know, I know," she says. "We just stopped one step short of complete
commercialism. And once a week we get messages from people going, 'I
want to sell T-shirts at the demolition.' We could. It's just one more thing to deal with right now."
