SUPER BOWL OR SUPER BUST
Although the city is moving forward with it’s Super Bowl bid, I think the more interesting quest will be to line up public support. At today’s news conference Bowl Committee Chairman Mark Miles made it a point to say that this is the “community’s bid” and the community should be a part of the quest to get the 2012 Super Bowl. They’ve created a community advisory committee to help drum up public support for the Super Bowl.
Miles and other officials also stressed the theme of return on investment, pointing out that economic figures show city and private investment dollars ($25 million from the private sector and about $1-$2 million from the city for public safety) will yield between $250-$300 million dollars in revenue for Indianapolis and the region.
It will be interesting to see what the public reaction is over the next few weeks. I’ve always maintained the problem with the last Super Bowl bid was that it did not seem to have the support of the public behind it because many residents thought the city had more important things to do such as deal with a rising crime problem.
I’ll be watching closely.
Editor’s Note: One of the most interesting moments of the discussion was when a reporter asked Miles if Indy could compete with Arizona and Houston which are both touting the fact they have held successful Super Bowls. His response, “Sometimes it’s better to run for office the first time around than defend a record.” Miles quickly added it was a general observation after some laughter from the crowd.
