Two Cities Bidding on Super Bowl XVLI

We know the locations of the next 3 Super Bowls: Tampa, Miami, and Arlington, TX. Up for grabs when the owners next meet in May - the location of Super Bowl XVLI in 2012. Bids are due April 1. Two cities have announced their intention to bid on the Super Bowl: Houston and Indianapolis. At least two more cities are likely to bid on the game.

The list of requirements for Super Bowl XVL included the host committee commitment to secure 27,000 hotel rooms, practice facilities for both teams and event coordination.

Houston's Reliant Stadium hosted one of the more memorable Super Bowls in recent history in 2004 - Super Bowl XXXVIII, besides being the longest nomenclature in Super Bowl history, was the site of the wild ride between the Patriots and Panthers ending on a last second Adam Vinatieri field goal. Indianapolis fell two votes short of being awarded the game last year (for 2011) in favor of the Cowboys' new stadium; Indianapolis' new stadium Lucas Oil Stadium will be opening for the 2008 season.

Reliant Stadium's seating capacity is 71,500, features a natural grass playing field in a retractable room dome. Lucas Oil Stadium will have a capacity of 63,000 upgradeable to 70,000 for an event such as the Super Bowl.

The draw for the NFL to place the game in Indianapolis would be great to showcase the new stadium - a phenomenon seen recently with games having been held in Jacksonville, Houston, Glendale (Phoenix), Detroit and Tampa. "Cold weather" cities are at a disadvantage when bidding for the game as the preference is for warmer climes and there is a minimum average temperature for open stadiums. Since the 1980's, one "cold weather" city has hosted a game each decade - The Pontiac Silverdome (outside Detroit) in 1982, the Metrodome in Minneapolis in 1992, and Ford Field in Detroit in 2006.

The CEO of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership, Mark Miles, states Phoenix - the site of Super Bowl XLII - and New Orleans may also submit bids for Super Bowl XVLI. Should Phoenix submit a bid, its prospects would definitely be influenced by the success of Super Bowl XLII, but also hampered by having so recently hosted a game. New Orleans has hosted the game 9 times and the city's experience with coordinating the experience has been vast; however the Super Dome is also an aging facility in a city still struggling to reinvent itself after Hurricane Katrina.

REFERENCE

http://www.nbcsports.com/portal/site/nbcsports/menuitem.6f806e473b4cb158fb00ec22493c2d04/?vgnextoid=fa4550b67d7c7110VgnVCM10000075c1d240RCRD

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2008/01/28/daily33.html

http://www.reliantpark.com/reliantstadium/