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The NFL Scouting Combine just dominated the downtown area for the better part of nine days. If you wanted a glimpse of Jon Gruden or Super Bowl champ Tom Coughlin it wasn’t hard - the restaurants were filled with scouts, assistant coaches, head coaches GMs, Presidents and yes even the occasional owner. Arizona Cardinals owner Bill Bidwell is a fixture at the combine. He’s been to EVERY one! Commissioner Roger Goodell and Players union head Gene Upshaw were also on hand. After the Super Bowl and the conference championship games, this may be the league’s most important event. And it happens EVERY year right here in downtown Indianapolis!

Indianapolis serves as the perfect host for the NFL and its teams and (oh, yeah) the national media. Over 400 credentialed media were on hand for the week. The facilities are second to none. The convenience of the medical operation is perfect for the team doctors and trainers. Coaches love that they can walk from hotel to hotel, from hotel to convention center, from hotel to meeting rooms. They love that when they get a break they can easily move around downtown for dinner.

What does all this mean? It means that Indy has a “super” chance to grab the Super Bowl in 2012. From all perspectives, from the coaches to the media, from the owners to league administrators, Indy and its downtown gets rave reviews. For example, Peter King of Sports Illustrated & NBC wrote this on his national web page:

“…as long as we’re talking about Indy, I hope Indianapolis gets the 2012 Super Bowl … and this from a guy who wishes every Super Bowl were played in San Diego. Indy deserves it. It’s the most walkable downtown in America.”

John Clayton is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He is a national NFL reporter like King. He lives in Seattle but is “Mr. NFL Insider” for ESPN. He was a guest on our radio show this week and he offered these thoughts:

“I give Indy a ‘double thumbs up’ for a Super Bowl bid. It’s accessible and easy to get around. Other than New Orleans and to a certain degree, Tampa, it’s the most intimate city for a Super Bowl. And I mean that in the best way. You can walk anywhere. Lots of restaurants. Lots of hotels. It’s the best city as far as being close. You can walk from the hotel to the stadium without ever going outside. I love the city. And the people are very special. I was there for a Colts game once and I was sick. The hotel sent up chicken soup and followed up to see how I was. You don’t get that anywhere else. If the league wants to consider a northern site, the thing you want to avoid as a member of the media is boarding a bus for a 40 minute ride each day. You won’t get that in Indianapolis. I support Indy for a Super Bowl. Everything you need to do is a walk away.”

So, it looks good. We’re getting good feedback. But, we’ve got a lot of work to do. This city deserves a Super Bowl. I have been blessed to work and attend over 20 Super Bowls, and I have always said one of the keys to a successful event is the city’s volunteers. And we do THAT better than anyone. Whether it was the old Brickyard Crossing Senior golf event or the Pan Am games or a Final Four, we have always delivered Hoosier Hospitality to our guests from all over the world.
It’s time for the Super Bowl to come to America’s heartland. A “super” game for a “super” city, filled with “super” people. I can’t wait.

(Eddie White is the afternoon co-host of a sports talk show on ESPN 1070 The Fan. White also works in public relations for Reebok. He is a former Asst. SID at Notre Dame and spent four years as the Director of PR for the Miami Dolphins. He has worked over 20 Super Bowls in various capacities for the NFL.)

Eddie White
Sports Talk Show Host on ESPN 1070 The Fan
ContactUs@OUR2012SB.com

Last week, I had the honor of sharing the podium with Mayor Greg Ballard, Lieutenant Governor Becky Skillman, Jim Irsay and John Lechleiter of Eli Lilly & Company as we made it official… as Mayor Ballard said, “Our hat is in the ring” - Indianapolis will bid for the 2012 Super Bowl.

We came within two votes of winning the 2011 game last year, so we’re starting from a solid foundation. But there’s always room for improvement, and we want all of the ideas and input we can gather to build a winning bid. This is a region-wide (even statewide) effort, and this website is an important way for us to engage the community in a productive discussion. I’m not the most tech-savvy person you’ll ever run across, but I do know this is a great way to reach a lot of smart people quickly.

This blog is my own way of sharing ideas and updates.
I’m excited to help keep our dialogue moving, and especially to get your ideas on issues like the downtown Super Bowl Village and the civic legacy we want the game to leave for our own citizens. (We’re already getting a lot of feedback on the legacy project and want to make this an ongoing online discussion – it’s very important to us. Watch this space for more.)

Each week, we’ll be posting a new question on our online forums (here and on our partner sites) – this week, we start at the “big picture” level by asking about your experiences with other major sports events outside of Indianapolis: What did other cities offer that we should try to emulate, and what advantages do we have that we should try to exploit?

A couple of personal observations: I lived in Jacksonville when they hosted the Super Bowl in 2005, and attended the game in Phoenix a few weeks ago, and saw a couple of similar issues.

In Jacksonville, the downtown area doesn’t really have a great diversity of restaurants, clubs or other recreational options – it’s mostly the business district and the St. John’s River, with the stadium located to the east and the beach communities about 15 miles further out. So while the community embraced the Super Bowl, it was difficult to build the kind of “village” or celebration that was centrally located and really took advantage of all of the area’s assets. It just wasn’t built that way, even though the city and NFL did put on some great events and got the citizens involved as much as possible. They also did an outstanding job on the public transportation side, and sweeping renovations to the Gator Bowl enhanced the venue and the festivities surrounding the stadium.

In Phoenix, the metropolitan area is sprawled over such a wide geography that it was literally possible to be in one part of town and have no idea that the city was hosting the Super Bowl. The region has a lot to offer, but again, it was difficult to build any kind of ‘festival’ atmosphere.

To me, this points to a key competitive advantage for Indy – we have a uniquely compact, convenient and connected downtown, with Lucas Oil Stadium easily accessible to plenty of hotels, dining and entertainment options.

We’ll dive deeper into how we can leverage our downtown into a great Super Bowl Village and community celebration…for now, let’s focus on what we can learn from our peers, good and bad. What great or not-so-great sports or festival experiences have you had outside Indianapolis, and what can we learn from them?

Mark Miles
President & CEO of Central Indiana Community Partnership
ContactUs@OUR2012SB.com

This is your community blog.

Do you have any ideas to help Indianapolis win its bid to host the 2012 Super Bowl? Your ideas could the difference. Please use this blog to post your suggestions.