Super Bowl News Roundup

Make sure to check here regularly for the latest news on Indy's preparation for the 2012 Super Bowl. Here's what news outlots across the country are saying:
Irsay, Dungy key to bringing Super Bowl to Indy - ESPN
Indianapolis wins bid for 2012 Super Bowl - USA Today
Indianapolis edges Arizona for Super Bowl - Arizona Republic
Houston loses out to Indy - Houston Chronicle
A cold front for Super Bowl - Baltimore Sun
Vision helped Super Tuesday become reality - Indianapolis Star

Ideas for Indianapolis Super Bowl?

Now that the game is ours, civic and business leaders are getting to work on planning the biggest event in the city's history. Do you have any ideas for what they should do? Do you expect the event to change the city for the better?

Indianapolis is Super!

The third time's the charm for Indianapolis. After two previous attempts came up short, the city will host the 2012 Super Bowl. From IBJ:

NFL owners have chosen Indianapolis to host the 2012 Super Bowl.

The 32 team owners meeting here today picked Indianapolis over Houston and Phoenix, which hosted the 2004 and 2008 Super Bowls, respectively.

Indianapolis officials had gone to great lengths to secure the 25,000 hotel rooms required by league bid specifications. They also hammered home the city’s strengths, including downtown connectivity and history of hosting big events, from the 1987 Pan Am Games to the Indianapolis 500 and NCAA men’s basketball Final Fours.

Indianapolis also came up with $25 million in corporate and individual support to fund various Super Bowl operations, including event hosting, transportation and building a practice facility. NFL sources said Indianapolis has more money secured to host the 2012 Super Bowl than either Phoenix or Houston.

In the end, those strengths — along with the rising clout of Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay among his peers — carried the day.

The score will be no small prize for the city. Sports economists estimate that more than 250,000 visitors will descend on Indianapolis for Super Bowl XLVI, with the game carrying a $300 million to $400 million economic impact.

The Moment of Truth

Will we land the big game? An answer is expected very soon. Meantime, check out the latest from IBJ:

Indianapolis’ bid to host the 2012 Super Bowl calls for turning downtown into a big party, complete with massive fire pits to keep revelers warm.

Officials hope to beat out Indianapolis’ larger rivals—Phoenix and Houston—in part by casting the city’s smaller size as a strength.

“When the Super Bowl comes to Indianapolis, the NFL will own the joint,” reads an executive summary of the bid released last night.

And, perhaps feeling the sting of being beaten last year by a larger facility in Dallas, local officials found a way to promise an additional 5,000 seats in Lucas Oil Stadium.

The Indianapolis delegation will make its pitch to the 32 NFL owners here today. The city’s bid includes creating a $9 million practice facility for the NFC Super Bowl representative on the Arsenal Technical High School campus. The facility would serve as a Super Bowl legacy to help youth on the city’s near east side and spur redevelopment in the area. The AFC champion would use the Indianapolis Colts' 56th Street training complex for preparation in the days leading up to the game.

Indy Sending Teens to Deliver 2012 Bid

Indianapolis is sending 32 Indiana eighth-graders to NFL cities across the country to hand deliver its bid to host the 2012 Super Bowl, the Associated Press reports. The students will travel with chaperones — and carry large briefcases containing the city's bid documents — to deliver the bid to NFL team owners. The students will wear the respective jerseys of the teams they are visiting. They will be seniors in high school in 2012.

NFL team owners plan to vote on the Super Bowl site at their annual meeting near Atlanta later this month. Indianapolis is competing against Phoenix and Houston. The city lost out to Dallas last year in a bid to host the 2011 game. Mark Miles, who is leading the city's bid effort this year, said sending students to deliver the bid documents is a way to show team owners that the whole community wants the game. Superintendents in 26 central Indiana school districts chose students who are in good academic standing and will be "exemplary representatives of their communities."