With a big assist from the Indiana Sports Corp., Indianapolis has had quite a run, hosting more than 450 sporting events over four decades, including a Super Bowl, seven NCAA men’s basketball Final Fours and dozens of amateur world championships.
Indianapolis officials say they’re up for the challenge of hosting the eighth annual College Football Playoff National Championship in January 2022, even as they’re planning six other big sporting events that take place within a 13-month stretch.
That compares to $30 million the Indianapolis business community contributed in cash and in-kind services to support the 2012 Super Bowl held at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Mike Fox, who spent 33 years as stadium director at Lucas Oil Stadium and the Hoosier Dome, will now oversee facility operations at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
In a sign of the city’s serious intent to host the game, Pacers President Rick Fuson will be accompanied by presidents and vice presidents of Visit Indy and the Indiana Sports Corp. as he travels to Toronto this week.
Lucas Oil Co. is the expected winner during this year's Final Four, and the JW Marriott is turning out to be just as good a billboard as it is a hotel.
A stinging defeat for Indy’s quest to land the 2018 Super Bowl leaves a giant opening in the city’s convention schedule and brings new urgency to recruiting future sports events.
It’s unclear what’s next for Indianapolis, which hosted its first Super Bowl in 2012. Organizers said it’s simply too early to consider going for another Super Bowl. It seems bidding next year for the 2019 game is off the table.
Despite having what several NFL executives said was the strongest proposal, Indianapolis lost out on hosting the 2018 championship game to a city with a new, $975 million stadium in the wings.
Part of the legacy project included in Indianapolis' 2018 Super Bowl bid includes building a research and training center and headquarters for USA Football, local bid committee members revealed Tuesday morning.
New Orleans has emerged as the front runner to host the Super Bowl in 2018 due to its tricentennial celebration and the fact that this could be 87-year-old Saints owner Tom Benson’s last crack at hosting the big game.
When ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio offered Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay the chance to apologize to the Colts team and fans, he refused to bite.
Indianapolis is betting that an ambitious project to study safety issues at all levels of football, plus expanding and snazzing up the Super Bowl Village, will help win the 2018 Super Bowl. And Jeff Saturday will help deliver the message.
The city on Wednesday turned in a 900-page bid to host the 2018 Super Bowl that mentions the possibility of two new downtown hotels. Meanwhile, a Colts official said owner Jim Irsay plans to help lobby for the city’s bid at the May 19-21 NFL owners meeting.
Indianapolis officials plan to use a downtown light show and $30 million in pre-raised corporate cash to wow the NFL’s team owners into granting the Circle City the title of Super Bowl host for the second time in six years.
The game Feb. 2 and the week-long run-up to it will be fresh in the minds of the 32 NFL owners when they gather for their annual meeting in Atlanta in May to hear 2018 Super Bowl bid presentations from Indianapolis, Minneapolis and New Orleans.
The city will make its case at the May 19-21 owners’ meeting in Atlanta, alongside fellow finalists New Orleans and Minneapolis.
Indy joins Minneapolis and New Orleans as the three NFL cities invited to bid on the big game. The 2012 Super Bowl had a $176 million direct economic impact on the city, a study said.
League sources say Indianapolis and Dallas will be among the finalists announced Tuesday for the 2018 Super Bowl. That will pit Colts owner Jim Irsay against powerful Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
Indianapolis officials hope to include plans for a new downtown luxury hotel in their bid for the 2018 Super Bowl, but they’re not sure all the pieces for a deal—potentially on Pan Am Plaza—can be put together before a bid presentation for 32 NFL owners in May.
