ATLANTA – Trying to top a Super Bowl that many consider to be the best ever is no easy task.
Yet later today, the Indianapolis 2018 Super Bowl bid delegation will make their case to have the world's eyes fixated back on the Circle City.
Indianapolis will present their Super Bowl bid to NFL owners this afternoon before voting will take place to decide who will host Super Bowl LII (52) on February 4, 2018.
"Last time we came in and we were trying to convince them that we could do a great job and this time we know we can do a great job," Indianapolis presenter Allison Melangton said on Monday.
"We are asking to bring you back so that we can raise the bar even higher."
This bid isn't possible without the @Colts and the Irsay family. Along with my friend Pete Ward, they have been there every step of the way. — Allison Melangton (@IndyAllison) May 20, 2014
The competition is certainly stiff for Indianapolis to host another Super Bowl.
New Orleans appears to be the prohibitive favorite and has never lost a bid (10-for-10) when being a finalist. The year 2018 also marks the tri-centennial for the city of New Orleans.
Minneapolis will have a new stadium in time for Super Bowl LII and hasn't hosted the event since 1992.
And then there's Indianapolis, who is riding the momentum of a stellar execution from 2012.
While Melangton, who will present this afternoon along with Jeff Saturday, didn't want to reveal all the intricacies of Indianapolis bid, there are a few major strengths the delegation will focus on during this afternoon's 15-minute presentation.
- The most obvious advantage that Indianapolis has over the other finalists is that they have pre-funded 100 percent of its Host Committee's operations. About $30 million has already been raised and this falls right in line with the pre-funding the bid committee received during the 2011 and 2012 bidding processes.
- Lucas Oil Stadium finds itself atop all other NFL venues in fan experience for the third consecutive year. With the Convention Center across the street, downtown Indianapolis has more than the proper infrastructure for everything that needs to take place on game day.
- One of the crowning achievements from the 2012 Super Bowl was the success of the Super Bowl Village. More than 1 million fans visited the 2012 Village and the 2018 bid now has a requirement for the Host Committees to construct some sort of Super Bowl Boulevard (the 2018 bid for Indianapolis includes an expansion to Monument Circle).
- Lastly, a legacy project will once again be a major force behind an Indianapolis sporting event. Along with USA Football (based in Indianapolis), the legacy project aims to make a "commitment to a better and safer game of football by maximizing the sports resources" in Indiana.
Those points will be reiterated and emphasized several times on Tuesday before Indianapolis presents in the third slot of the three finalists.
The plans for how the operations of another Super Bowl in Indianapolis were presented in a 900-page binder sent to NFL owners two weeks ago.
A final 15-minute presentation will be the last attempt Indianapolis has to see the Super Bowl return to the Circle City.
Colts Vice Chair/Owner Kalen Irsay joked on Monday that she didn't have enough time to explain all of her reasons for why Indianapolis deserves to host again.
She and her family have heard all the high remarks from around the NFL and now they want Indianapolis to be the sports epicenter come February 2018.
"If you live in Indy, you definitely know the love, the passion that everybody has for the city," Irsay says.
"We talk a big part of our corporate sponsors that we already have and we don't even have the bid yet. That was the same in 2012 and we didn't even have one yet then. I think that just shows the commitment we have and why we love the people that we live with every day. This is about the city and really the things it can bring to the entire state of Indiana. Being able to have that opportunity again is just indescribable."
