The 2021 NFL FINALE | Glam Dunk

FIFTY days ago, giant ruby red scissors were employed to slice through a thick taut, pink satiny ribbon to celebrate the debut of the JW Marriott Tampa, the city’s first 5-star luxury hotel. As far as Grand Openings go, it was a subdued affair (in a side-eyed eye roll to Covid). There would be no flotilla of artfully tiered food presentations. Brimming chunky lowball glasses glistening with perspiration served up dramatically by arms-flailing mixologists would be nowhere to be found. Contractors, designers of all stripes, friends of friends were all quietly asked to Zoom in. But as with all things Life (Pandemic or not), the Show Must Go On! And so, on December 21st, the hotel’s Owner, General Manager and a few emissaries from Mother Marriott flanked Tampa mayor Jane Castor to hoist those giant colorful shears to succinctly bisect the ceremonial shimmery ribbon before local media. The ribbon fell to the ground, arms were raised and mask-muffled cheers echoed throughout the port cochere. And with that, the shiny glass doors where officially thrown open to the World.

NOW, It’s probably a good thing that each of the Officials responsibly deployed face coverings because while undoubtedly a cheerful occasion, the subtext on everyone’s mind is the one not so easily disguised. If you imagined yourself at the proverbial switchboard, you couldn’t envision a worse time than NOW to launch at 27-story, $200M complex complete with 519 rooms (and together with the connected regular Marriott Tampa) overflowing with 140,000 square feet of event space. In short, it’s a hotel that enjoys an abundance of riches that now exists in a reality rich with an abundance of concern. Three years in the making and the centerpiece of the $3.5B Water Street riverside mixed-use Development, the JW Marriott Tampa has inarguably started off on uneven footing but is quietly finding its own studied path forward while at the same time commanding (and receiving) the highest room rates in the Tampa-St. Petersburg metropolitan area. The hotel’s General Manager warmly notes that bookings are strong heading into Spring Break and Summer. The delay of Tampa’s fabled Gasparilla Pirate Festival to April has certainly helped to bolster his case. If you’ve never done Gasparilla, what are you waiting for. It’s Florida’s Mardi Gras painted in sunshine State gaudiness. What’s not to like. More substantially, the NFL selected the JW was the official host hotel for its staff, Executive Team and KC/Bucs Ownership for this past weekend’s Super Bowl. This selection guaranteed 2+ weeks of 100% occupancy. All in all, Not bad for a 50 day old hotel hunkered down amidst the unforgiving gale force winds of a global pandemic.

But perhaps the most intriguing development of all is one that dates to Thanksgiving or so and has roots that stretch 1336 miles due North. For it was back in late November that the Canadian government maintained its intolerance for any non-essential travel and reinforced its requirement for mandatory 14-day quarantines for any visitors that even qualified as essential. NO EXCEPTIONS. The NBA, and by proxy, the Toronto Raptors, asked for due consideration and were summarily and swiftly DENIED. Said MLB’s Toronto Blue Jays: Join the Club! So without any feasible way of hosting visiting Teams from the States, the Raptors went Zillowing for that not-quite forever Home. They kicked tires in Sunrise, Florida but red tape dispensed with encumbrance by the NHL’s Panthers snuffed out any semblance of agreement. Left Swipe. The Raptors quickly thereafter hit the road and swiftly swiped right 200 odd miles to the Northwest in — wait for it — Tampa. An agreement was quickly cobbled together for Amalie Arena (home to 2020 Stanley Cup champs Tampa Bay Lightning) to play the role as the home arena for the city’s newly adopted Raptors. But the Team needed a house overhead and a Practice Court within waling distance to make things as logistically seamless as possible. And that’s where the JW Marriott Tampa jumped in with its nearly quarter billion dollar Air Jordans. Team scouts liked what they saw across the street from Amalie Arena and they approached the hotel about the feasibility of a medium term mini-residency. After all, the entire organization would need shelter, food and beverage, recreational options, workout equipment and administrative space through May and into July should the Team be lucky enough to reach the playoffs.

Well to say the hotel welcomed the Team with open arms would be a grave understatement. Working in close collaboration with the Team, hotel leaders and engineers tirelessly erected 2 full practice courts up on the 4th floor in what is the Gulf Coast’s largest ballroom at 30,000 square feet. What regulation court do you know of that is illuminated with a 10 foot-in-diameter Swarovski crystal chandelier and deeply coffered ceilings? It’s really a sight to behold. Not to be outdone, a socially a distanced locker room furnished with dramatic thick curtaining and red uplighting was constructed in an adjacent Meeting Room. A private workout facility, a Team Meeting Room with 15 leather-clad Captain’s recliners and Administrative Offices complete the smile. Player response has so far been rapturously enthusiastic even as the Team settles into the nascent Season with a ho-hum .44 winning percentage. The Toronto Raptors by way of Tampa clearly have their work cut out for them in the months to come but at least they can rest easy — in approachable luxury — at night. Sometimes big giant red scissors are more than just ceremonial props. Sometimes they can ordain fortune. Sometimes they CAN cut the cloth. We’ll just be sure not to run with them. Safety First. Thank you, Fiskars!

Meanwhile, Blocks away from the JW Marriott on Sunday night at the Super Bowl, Tom Brady was busy signing his painting. 7 Championships, 5 time MVP and the oldest player to participate in a Super Bowl EVER. I guess he’s eating his Wheaties. Is that still a thing? Oh right, he’s got that weird new diet full of seaweed, no meat and all business. The QB haters love to dunk on. The QB who was age 1 when Patrick Mahomes’ mom was born. The QB who to those in ascension still aspire to BE. Not bad for a relative elder statesman who enters his second decade in the League better than ever. Of course he didn’t capture the Lombardi Trophy alone. Naturally he had the backing of a determined, sinuous, smart and cunningly adaptive Offensive and Defensive squad. The Bucs last lost a game on Thanksgiving weekend (to the Chiefs, obvi) and never looked back going on to smash their way to 8 victories in a row, culminating in a coronation this past Sunday. The Defense in particular roared into the back-half of the Season and ever more powerfully so on Sunday. They skillfully picked the lock and blasted the KC safe under the cover of darkness sailed out of port imperceptibly. Against this polished onslaught, the Chiefs were left with to cower in the shadow of their 2020 greatness. Even the iron-clad patrick Mahomes was humbled. And schooled. Some have likened KC’s performance on Sunday to a dumpster fire that kept running to Target to grab more Kingsford lighter fluid to reignite itself. Not sure if it was THAT bad, but at the same time the comparison is NOT wrong. So congratulations — through gritted teeth — to 2021 Champions, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.