An unintended endorsement of a strip club became an embarrassing moment for the ordinarily buttoned-up Minnesota Super Bowl Host Committee.
Super Bowl committee super embarrassed for recommending strip club
Minnesota Super Bowl Host Committee removes business directory from website to vet the 400-some suggested business. Committee says King of Diamonds shouldn't have made the list.
October 25, 2017 at 8:54PM
King of Diamonds, a "gentleman's club" in Inver Grove Heights, landed on the list of suggested minority and women-owned contractors in the NFL Business Connect program.
Until contacted by Nick Williams, a reporter for the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, the host committee was unaware that Kladek Inc., a woman-owned business, was behind the strip club.
"Obviously, they should never have been included," Super Bowl spokeswoman Andrea Mokros said. "Kladek Inc. was one of more than 1,000 businesses that applied, and it should not have made the list of the 400-plus businesses in our Business Resource Directory."
The committee has temporarily removed the directory from its website to "thoroughly audit" each of the remaining businesses on the list, Mokros said.
Debra Kalsbeck, the owner of the business, told Williams that she hadn't even completed the paperwork for the application to get on the list.
The business connect program is the NFL's Super Bowl and special event "supplier diversity program." The goal is for the directory to serve as a conduit for contractors looking to hire vendors during the 10-day event in 2018.
Lots of restaurants and caterers are included in the directory.
The governor said it may be 2027 or 2028 by the time the market catches up to demand.
