LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – Mary Cruz Jacobson knows a thing or two about the NFL.
“This is my third Super Bowl,” Jacobson said inside the UNLV Thomas and Mack Center Friday night, wearing a jersey with a giant “58” on the back. “We’re going to be everywhere.”

The “we” she’s referring to are her fellow volunteers for Super Bowl LVIII. With two games down in Arizona and one upcoming in Nevada, she’s a veteran who’s performed everything from directing pedestrian traffic in Phoenix to being a restaurant concierge in Glendale.

“I’m retired now,” Jacobson said. “After being in corporate America for 30, 40 years, I get to come and share my skillset, management skillset.”

She has over seven thousand co-volunteers that represent 44 states and 20 countries and collected inside the UNLV Thomas and Mack Center Friday night for orientation. TEAM LV, the official volunteer brigade for the first Super Bowl in Nevada, is weeks away from activation.

That’s according to Trevor Bobb, Las Vegas Super Bowl Host Committee senior vice president of volunteer operations, who says over 300,000 incoming spectators at Allegiant Stadium and surrounding casinos will depend on them to know where to go and keep the hype.

“We’re the ones that kind of set the tone. We want to make sure everybody comes here, and has the time of their life,” Bobb said, discussing the guest service functions of his volunteers.

They’ll be positioned near Super Bowl activations valley-wide, from the strip to Fremont Street to the public and private airports. Regional President of Caesars Entertainment Sean McBurney says they’ll be tasked with keeping the visitor experience smooth.

“We need people to be engaged. We need people to be excited. We need people to be knowledgeable,” McBurney said.

But, beyond keeping the environment light, Robert Rafferty with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department says they’ll also be tasked with helping to keep it safe for the event that received the highest risk rating by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

“Our community is no stranger to violence, right?” Rafferty said to the crowd. “I come with one message tonight: if you see suspicious activity, see something, say something.”

Volunteers, like Jacobson, say they’re up to the challenge and the purpose they bring to maintaining an experience in an expected crowded environment.

“A lot of the volunteers are like me. They have skill sets to offer,” Jacobson said. “I know I’m going to make a difference because I’ve already been to two other Super Bowls where our ranking was very high.”

The over 7,000 volunteers have already been given assignments and will be activated the week leading up to Super Bowl Sunday on February 11.

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