Fred Otto Passes: Super Bowl Ticket Man Was What The NFL Was All About
ONN – Fred Otto Passes: Super Bowl Ticket Man Was What The NFL Was All About
Fred Otto. I got the word that Fred passed away while watching the NFL Network. I was floored. First, thing I did was make a vlog to talk about Mr. Otto. Come to think of it, I only referred to Fred Otto as “Mr Otto” on two occasions and that was when we met in 1999 over the phone.
Back then, I was Founder and Executive Director of the Oakland-Alameda County Sports Commission and the Super Bowl XXXIX Bidding Committee within it. I was working to bring what would be the 2005 Super Bowl to Oakland, and to actually see what a Super Bowl event was beyond the game itself, I and a set of my board members were guests of the National Football League to attend the 2000 Super Bowl in Atlanta. I officially met Fred in Atlanta, and when I went to give him a gift to thank him. It was always “Fred” from that point on.
To me, Fred Otto is about one thing: loyalty. See, Fred Otto remembers and remembered that I produced a bid to bring the Super Bowl to Oakland, and even though many outside of the NFL have forgotten that (and some inside the NFL but new to the league never knew it), Fred never did.
I would go to buy two Super Bowl Tickets via Fred, and never more than two, and never less than two. Because of Fred Otto, I’ve personally attended 9 Super Bowl Games: 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2012, and 2015. If I had my way, I’d go to every Super Bowl Game ever. The reason: in domed stadiums, in particular, the rush of human energy at kickoff is so powerful that you can feel it coursing through your very body. There’s nothing like it, and if you don’t believe in God, you’ve never experienced that rush at a Super Bowl Game. Pitty you.
But I digress.
Fred Otto has been with the NFL for 46 years, and even though as he once told me “things have changed a lot around here”, he remained loyal to the league through his life.
I write this for those who are with the NFL and below the age of 30: Fred Otto was the true league: always able to listen, frank, friendly, professional, and trustworthy, and again, loyal. Fred’s a man I can trust. He embodies the best of the NFL, and I will miss him terribly.
After Super Bowl 50, I said I was going to get a bottle of wine for him, and never followed up on that, which doesn’t put me in good stead. But now, I’ll go out and buy that bottle, put his name on it, and just save it.
RIP Fred Otto.
God bless you.
Oakland News Now Note: this post demonstrates the full and live operation of the latest version of an experimental Zennie62Media mobile media video-blogging system network – part of a new approach to the production of media. The uploaded video is from a vlogger with the Zennie62 on YouTube Partner Channel, then uploaded to and formatted automatically at the Oakland News Now site and social media pages. The objective is smartphone-enabled, real-time, on the scene reporting of news, interviews, observations, and happenings anywhere in the World and within seconds and not hours. We are constantly working to improve the system network coding and also seek interested content and media technology partners.