Indy Submits Super Bowl Bid, Irsay 'Active'

Indianapolis has officially submitted its bid to host Super Bowl LII in 2018. The city’s bid committee sent its proposal to NFL owners, Wednesday.

The bid sent to the league is 900 pages.  Owners are receiving a shortened version.

Committee Chair Allison Melangton says the process will be competitive with the other finalists, Minneapolis and New Orleans, and doesn’t necessarily think Indianapolis is the "front runner."

But, she believes 2018 represents the best chance for Indy to host the Super Bowl again.

"There's a lot of moving factors to it.  What's going on with other cities, what potential events do we have on our calendar," said Melangton.  "After a lot of thought and a lot of discussion with the Super Bowl board and the mayor and the governor, we decided '18 was our best year for success."

Minneapolis' main selling point is a new billion dollar indoor stadium, and 2018 will be the city of New Orleans' 300th birthday.

And even though she may not think Indy is the front runner, Melangton believes the city offers something the other two don't.

"A lot of running a Super Bowl has to do with event execution and there is no city in the country that has run more sporting events than we have, hands down," said Melangton.  "We have the experience to be able to execute a flawlessly organized Super Bowl and so, we feel like that is a very strong selling point."

New to the bid process is a requirement for a Super Bowl Village and social media command center, both of which started when Indianapolis hosted in 2012.

The city has already raised $30 million in corporate and private support to run the Super Bowl.  Melangton says it's important when going up against cities like Minneapolis and New Orleans.

"Going into the 2011 bid and 2012 bid, we did not want the NFL owners to have any question that our community could raise the money to do it," said Melangton.  "So, as a strategy we decided to go in prefunded which is what we've done again."

The committee will give a 15-minute pitch to the league’s owners in Atlanta on May 20 when the winning city will be chosen.

Colts owner Jim Irsay will talk for five minutes during the presentation.  He was arrested and charged with driving under the influence in March, and he checked into a rehabilitation facility.

But, Colts Chief Operating Officer Pete Ward says Irsay is working on the bid process.

"He has become increasingly more active in terms of just lobbying and keeping tabs on how things are going," said Ward.

Indy's bid lists two properties for potential new hotels by 2018 at the Pan Am Plaza and the Illinois Building owned by Keystone Realty Group.

The economic impact of Indy hosting the Super Bowl in 2012 was $372 million, with direct spending of $176 million.