cwilson758
Feb 11, 2007, 4:57 PM
BIDDING FOR THE 2011 SUPER BOWL
After Miami, Indy looks to chic it up
Playbook calls for tonier hotel space and room for parking, glitzy galas
Game-day rain aside, Miami threw quite a party for Super Bowl XLI.
Beachfront hotels filled up with the Fortune 500 crowd, limousines and Escalades whisked big shots to swank parties, and thousands of revelers flooded world-famous Ocean Drive, creating a Mardi Gras-like atmosphere.
As Indianapolis looks to lure the Super Bowl here in 2011, local leaders must figure out how a smaller city with fewer hotels, fewer venues and fewer entertainment options can promise NFL officials the kind of Super Bowl magic that Miami has delivered time and again.
Officials who traveled to Miami say they're more confident than ever that Indianapolis can come up with a winning game plan, but they acknowledge it will take a little creativity.
"Necessity is the mother of invention," said Fred Glass, a partner at Baker & Daniels law firm who is president of Indianapolis 2011 Inc., the nonprofit group leading the charge to bring the Super Bowl here.
"We have some surprises up our sleeves."
For Indianapolis to have a shot at hosting the Super Bowl, it must first prove it can meet dozens of specifications, including the number of parking spaces around the stadium and accommodations for thousands of media members.
Among the top requirements: about 27,000 hotel rooms within an hour's drive for league officials, teams, the media and corporate sponsors. And these can't be budget motels.
At least 70 percent should be "full service," meaning amenities such as room service, laundry, restaurants and space for business centers must be available, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said. The rest must be "very high quality," he said.
"The Super Bowl is about corporate America," said William D. Talbert III, Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau president, who helped bring four Super Bowls to his city. "You need to put the best product you have forward as far as the proposal."
While South Florida easily met that standard, Indianapolis will likely have to pull off some hospitality sleight of hand.
After weeding out hotels that wouldn't pass muster, the group drafting the bid has developed a list of about 29,000 rooms it plans to target, said Jack Swarbrick, former chairman of the Indiana Sports Corp. and another Baker & Daniels partner working on the effort. A number are Downtown; the rest are spread across Marion County and in contiguous counties.
In some cases, enhancements would have to be made, such as providing 24-hour food service where it might not typically be available, Swarbrick said.
Party planning
Mayor Bart Peterson and his team like to point out that Indianapolis plays host to the Final Four and welcomes about 300,000 fans to the Indianapolis 500 every year.
But those events are hard to compare to the NFL's annual extravaganza, which draw about 98,000 visitors to Indianapolis.
"The biggest difference between what I experienced conducting a Final Four and conducting a Super Bowl was the amount of ancillary events that surround it," said Michael Kelly, who ran Super Bowl host committees in Miami, Jacksonville and Tampa, and who helped organize the Final Four in Tampa Bay in 1999.
In other words, the Super Bowl brings along a whole lot of parties. Everyone from Sports Illustrated and NFL players to TV networks and corporate poobahs host some sort of soiree.
Kelly said the list of official and unofficial events at this year's Super Bowl filled up an 86-page calendar. The host committee isn't required to find places for all of them but does its best to help, he said.
In Miami, the landmark Casa Casuarina, best known as the oceanfront mansion of the late fashion designer Gianni Versace, hosted six gatherings over Super Bowl weekend. Clubs like The Fifth in Miami Beach and The Park Sports Club in nearby Hollywood, Fla., booked star-studded affairs for celebs such as former Colts Edgerrin James and Marshall Faulk. Other party planners set up tents on South Beach, where well-heeled guests were wined and dined as waves lapped against the sand.
Indianapolis can't compete with the Miami area when it comes to the sheer number of traditional party venues (or beaches, of course), but Glass said the city will simply find creative solutions.
Places like The Children's Museum, the zoo, the Motor Speedway, the Eiteljorg Museum and even the auditorium inside the Indiana World War Memorial could host functions, he said.
"I don't think most people would think of them as places for events, but we certainly are," Glass said. "Motorola and Visa and (former Colts player) Tony Siragusa and the Playboy bunnies, they want to do their events, and we can absolutely do a great job of helping them."
Space crunch
Parties aside, Super Bowl XLI also highlighted just how much space the event requires.
Much of the complex around Dolphin Stadium was brimming with activity, including the 850,000-square-foot NFL Experience. The league's interactive theme park featured goal posts where people could attempt extra point kicks, quarterback passing drills, a 40-yard dash exercise and autograph sessions with current and former players.
In Miami, parts of the attraction were under tents -- some as wide as 164 feet -- and the rest was outdoors. In Indianapolis, it would almost certainly be held inside the Indiana Convention Center.
Mary Pat Augenthaler, the NFL's senior director of special events, said the NFL Experience has been successfully held indoors in places like Detroit and Houston and said all the same activities can be offered.
While the NFL Experience wouldn't gobble up the entire Convention Center, the space left may not be enough to house a media center for the 3,400 journalists who attend the game, or for large events such as the Taste of the NFL. Both were in convention centers in South Florida, and Indianapolis officials would have to find some place to put them.
Glass said a committee is in the process of figuring out where to fit everything. Citing competition with other cities, he would not discuss the options being considered.
Indy's edge
Despite the challenges, the Super Bowl in Miami also highlighted Indianapolis' strengths.
In South Florida, events were scattered everywhere, from South Beach to downtown Miami to Fort Lauderdale. Even the stadium was miles away from most hotels.
Factor in streets clogged by 125,000 visitors and throngs of locals, and it at times took well more than an hour to make a 20-mile drive, fraying nerves and making it tough to take it all in.
"When they have the Super Bowl in Indy, it will be a lot more fun," predicted Bob Zehr, an Indianapolis resident who was in Miami last week to cheer on the Colts. "Everything is so close."
Glass agreed and said most activity in Indianapolis would be centered on the Mile Square area surrounding Monument Circle, making it easy to get around.
He said Indianapolis is also especially adept at handling logistics, such as shuttling around hundreds of thousands of fans and providing a solid corps of trained volunteers, thanks to years of hosting big events. And he said the importance of Hoosier hospitality can't be understated.
"Having had the Miami experience and come back, I'm even more encouraged now that we'll be able to put together a tremendous experience and have a special event," he said.
He and others will know within a few months whether the NFL agrees.
Bids are due April 2, and the league's 32 owners will likely choose a location for the 2011 game at their meeting this May in Nashville, Tenn.
Indianapolis is so far competing against Phoenix and the Dallas-Forth Worth area.
Kelly, who headed the Miami Super Bowl host committee, thinks Indianapolis has a good shot if civic leaders take what they learned in Miami and use it to shape their pitch.
"Without question one of the best places to host the Final Four is Indianapolis, and they get a lot of high marks for doing that, so it's not like you're starting from scratch," Kelly said. "To me, it's just a matter of saying, 'OK, where does this differ from Final Four and how do we close the gap?' "
WHAT IT TAKES
NFL team owners will decide which city will host the 2011 Super Bowl at their May meeting. The league requires cities that want to host a Super Bowl to provide:
• About 27,000 hotel rooms within an hour's drive.
• Practice facilities for both teams, neither of which can be the actual stadium. Because of the weather, both must be indoors in Indianapolis.
• A media center accommodating 3,400 journalists and enough space for the NFL Experience theme park, which is about 850,000 square feet.
NO NEW ORLEANS BID
It appears Indianapolis will be in a race with Dallas-Forth Worth and Phoenix for the 2011 Super Bowl.
Despite murmurs that New Orleans might be interested in the game, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in an e-mail that "we don't anticipate an official bid from New Orleans."
The city has long been a favorite of NFL owners, thanks to warm weather and a world-class party atmosphere. The Super Bowl has returned there a record-tying nine times during its 41-year history.
But infrastructure problems that remain following Hurricane Katrina could make it difficult for the city to accommodate the swell of visitors.
After Miami, Indy looks to chic it up
Playbook calls for tonier hotel space and room for parking, glitzy galas
Game-day rain aside, Miami threw quite a party for Super Bowl XLI.
Beachfront hotels filled up with the Fortune 500 crowd, limousines and Escalades whisked big shots to swank parties, and thousands of revelers flooded world-famous Ocean Drive, creating a Mardi Gras-like atmosphere.
As Indianapolis looks to lure the Super Bowl here in 2011, local leaders must figure out how a smaller city with fewer hotels, fewer venues and fewer entertainment options can promise NFL officials the kind of Super Bowl magic that Miami has delivered time and again.
Officials who traveled to Miami say they're more confident than ever that Indianapolis can come up with a winning game plan, but they acknowledge it will take a little creativity.
"Necessity is the mother of invention," said Fred Glass, a partner at Baker & Daniels law firm who is president of Indianapolis 2011 Inc., the nonprofit group leading the charge to bring the Super Bowl here.
"We have some surprises up our sleeves."
For Indianapolis to have a shot at hosting the Super Bowl, it must first prove it can meet dozens of specifications, including the number of parking spaces around the stadium and accommodations for thousands of media members.
Among the top requirements: about 27,000 hotel rooms within an hour's drive for league officials, teams, the media and corporate sponsors. And these can't be budget motels.
At least 70 percent should be "full service," meaning amenities such as room service, laundry, restaurants and space for business centers must be available, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said. The rest must be "very high quality," he said.
"The Super Bowl is about corporate America," said William D. Talbert III, Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau president, who helped bring four Super Bowls to his city. "You need to put the best product you have forward as far as the proposal."
While South Florida easily met that standard, Indianapolis will likely have to pull off some hospitality sleight of hand.
After weeding out hotels that wouldn't pass muster, the group drafting the bid has developed a list of about 29,000 rooms it plans to target, said Jack Swarbrick, former chairman of the Indiana Sports Corp. and another Baker & Daniels partner working on the effort. A number are Downtown; the rest are spread across Marion County and in contiguous counties.
In some cases, enhancements would have to be made, such as providing 24-hour food service where it might not typically be available, Swarbrick said.
Party planning
Mayor Bart Peterson and his team like to point out that Indianapolis plays host to the Final Four and welcomes about 300,000 fans to the Indianapolis 500 every year.
But those events are hard to compare to the NFL's annual extravaganza, which draw about 98,000 visitors to Indianapolis.
"The biggest difference between what I experienced conducting a Final Four and conducting a Super Bowl was the amount of ancillary events that surround it," said Michael Kelly, who ran Super Bowl host committees in Miami, Jacksonville and Tampa, and who helped organize the Final Four in Tampa Bay in 1999.
In other words, the Super Bowl brings along a whole lot of parties. Everyone from Sports Illustrated and NFL players to TV networks and corporate poobahs host some sort of soiree.
Kelly said the list of official and unofficial events at this year's Super Bowl filled up an 86-page calendar. The host committee isn't required to find places for all of them but does its best to help, he said.
In Miami, the landmark Casa Casuarina, best known as the oceanfront mansion of the late fashion designer Gianni Versace, hosted six gatherings over Super Bowl weekend. Clubs like The Fifth in Miami Beach and The Park Sports Club in nearby Hollywood, Fla., booked star-studded affairs for celebs such as former Colts Edgerrin James and Marshall Faulk. Other party planners set up tents on South Beach, where well-heeled guests were wined and dined as waves lapped against the sand.
Indianapolis can't compete with the Miami area when it comes to the sheer number of traditional party venues (or beaches, of course), but Glass said the city will simply find creative solutions.
Places like The Children's Museum, the zoo, the Motor Speedway, the Eiteljorg Museum and even the auditorium inside the Indiana World War Memorial could host functions, he said.
"I don't think most people would think of them as places for events, but we certainly are," Glass said. "Motorola and Visa and (former Colts player) Tony Siragusa and the Playboy bunnies, they want to do their events, and we can absolutely do a great job of helping them."
Space crunch
Parties aside, Super Bowl XLI also highlighted just how much space the event requires.
Much of the complex around Dolphin Stadium was brimming with activity, including the 850,000-square-foot NFL Experience. The league's interactive theme park featured goal posts where people could attempt extra point kicks, quarterback passing drills, a 40-yard dash exercise and autograph sessions with current and former players.
In Miami, parts of the attraction were under tents -- some as wide as 164 feet -- and the rest was outdoors. In Indianapolis, it would almost certainly be held inside the Indiana Convention Center.
Mary Pat Augenthaler, the NFL's senior director of special events, said the NFL Experience has been successfully held indoors in places like Detroit and Houston and said all the same activities can be offered.
While the NFL Experience wouldn't gobble up the entire Convention Center, the space left may not be enough to house a media center for the 3,400 journalists who attend the game, or for large events such as the Taste of the NFL. Both were in convention centers in South Florida, and Indianapolis officials would have to find some place to put them.
Glass said a committee is in the process of figuring out where to fit everything. Citing competition with other cities, he would not discuss the options being considered.
Indy's edge
Despite the challenges, the Super Bowl in Miami also highlighted Indianapolis' strengths.
In South Florida, events were scattered everywhere, from South Beach to downtown Miami to Fort Lauderdale. Even the stadium was miles away from most hotels.
Factor in streets clogged by 125,000 visitors and throngs of locals, and it at times took well more than an hour to make a 20-mile drive, fraying nerves and making it tough to take it all in.
"When they have the Super Bowl in Indy, it will be a lot more fun," predicted Bob Zehr, an Indianapolis resident who was in Miami last week to cheer on the Colts. "Everything is so close."
Glass agreed and said most activity in Indianapolis would be centered on the Mile Square area surrounding Monument Circle, making it easy to get around.
He said Indianapolis is also especially adept at handling logistics, such as shuttling around hundreds of thousands of fans and providing a solid corps of trained volunteers, thanks to years of hosting big events. And he said the importance of Hoosier hospitality can't be understated.
"Having had the Miami experience and come back, I'm even more encouraged now that we'll be able to put together a tremendous experience and have a special event," he said.
He and others will know within a few months whether the NFL agrees.
Bids are due April 2, and the league's 32 owners will likely choose a location for the 2011 game at their meeting this May in Nashville, Tenn.
Indianapolis is so far competing against Phoenix and the Dallas-Forth Worth area.
Kelly, who headed the Miami Super Bowl host committee, thinks Indianapolis has a good shot if civic leaders take what they learned in Miami and use it to shape their pitch.
"Without question one of the best places to host the Final Four is Indianapolis, and they get a lot of high marks for doing that, so it's not like you're starting from scratch," Kelly said. "To me, it's just a matter of saying, 'OK, where does this differ from Final Four and how do we close the gap?' "
WHAT IT TAKES
NFL team owners will decide which city will host the 2011 Super Bowl at their May meeting. The league requires cities that want to host a Super Bowl to provide:
• About 27,000 hotel rooms within an hour's drive.
• Practice facilities for both teams, neither of which can be the actual stadium. Because of the weather, both must be indoors in Indianapolis.
• A media center accommodating 3,400 journalists and enough space for the NFL Experience theme park, which is about 850,000 square feet.
NO NEW ORLEANS BID
It appears Indianapolis will be in a race with Dallas-Forth Worth and Phoenix for the 2011 Super Bowl.
Despite murmurs that New Orleans might be interested in the game, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in an e-mail that "we don't anticipate an official bid from New Orleans."
The city has long been a favorite of NFL owners, thanks to warm weather and a world-class party atmosphere. The Super Bowl has returned there a record-tying nine times during its 41-year history.
But infrastructure problems that remain following Hurricane Katrina could make it difficult for the city to accommodate the swell of visitors.