NEW ORLEANS – This all started for Frank Gumienny and the Philadelphia Eagles in 1998 when he joined the team as an accountant after beginning his post-college career as a senior associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers from 1994-97.
For a kid born and raised in Philadelphia and bleeding green from birth, it was and remains a dream come true, so for Gumienny, every step of his journey has been something to cherish. Gumienny is now the team's Senior Vice President/Chief Operating Officer and his job description is to manage the daily financial operations for the organization and Lincoln Financial Field. He oversees the accounting, ticketing, premium and guest services, information technology, and merchandising departments. Gumienny has played a major role in making Lincoln Financial Field one of the country's leading multi-purpose venues with his contributions in negotiating and contracting special events.
But Gumienny is in New Orleans in a different role, one that he has had multiple times in his nearly 30 seasons with the team: Working with a large handful of other Eagles employees from all corners of the organization to help the day-to-day heavy lift of a Super Bowl trip run smoothly.
"Overseeing the whole movement of all the people from Philadelphia to New Orleans, and that's 1,200 people – planes, buses, hotels, parties, and the like. We partner with OnLocation (to help organize the travel packages for the team and the NFL) and all of the special requests that everyone in the organization needs," Gumienny said. "We've been working on this since the day after we beat the Rams. We beat the Rams on Sunday and 11 of us flew down here on Monday for an all-day meeting – hotels, checking out our practice site, which is where the Saints are housed, going over to the stadium (Caesars Superdome), picking out the locations for the parties, meeting with the NFL contingent.
"We flew down with the team on Sunday and then we will fly another about six charter flights with friends and family and getting it all done the right way. I want to mention Andrea Sorli (Eagles Vice President of Finance and Accounting) who has been the rock star behind the scenes in getting all of this done. Amazing, amazing, amazing. She said it best: 'It's like drinking from a fire hose, but you're thirsty.' You, we, everyone wants the Super Bowl more than anything in the world. But it comes at you fast and furious. It's a two-week sprint to the game."
Gumienny has also been involved in a bunch of other operations inside the organization, including working as a spotter in the radio booth for 15 seasons that covered the Super Bowls in the 2004 and 2017 seasons. For a kid from Northeast High School in Philadelphia to working next to Merrill Reese and Mike Quick, it just doesn't get any better.
"Every day, honestly, it's so much work and so much fun here," Gumienny said. "We have a great group of people who love what they do and who help each other every way we can."
The goal is to win the Super Bowl, of course, and the work is around the clock.
"We're here to make sure that everything flows and to keep distractions to a minimum and serve, honestly, all 1,200 people who are going to be here with us as a family," Gumienny said. "We are here to win and to celebrate with my family and my kids and all of the people I've worked with for so many years. Everything that we've done, we do for this. Every ounce of everything we've done is to get to the Super Bowl and to win the game.
"When you're with the Eagles, you know that being an Eagle means you'll always step in and do what is needed for the team, no matter what. That is what we are all about."
