SO WANNA A SUPER BOWL, EH?
There is going to be plenty of talk in this town about whether Indianapolis should pursue a Super Bowl bid for 2012. The city tried earlier this year and came close, losing to Dallas. I think a Super Bowl would be good for Indianapolis, but it has to be done under the right circumstances.
First, any effort to raise private funds should accompany the creation a foundation for crime prevention programs. For every $1 raised for a Super Bowl, there should be $.50 raised for a crime prevention foundation. The interest generated could go to fund the city’s many crime prevention programs and efforts.
Also, the problem with this past year’s efforts is that they were done in a backdrop of rising crime and high property taxes. Both are still issues, but with new leadership and a wake up call at the city hall, I feel much more confident that they will get addressed in the right manner.
Third, Indianapolis is a convention city. The city needs conventions to survive and a Super Bowl would clearly demonstrate Indianapolis can handle “the mother of all conventions.”
If done right, a Super Bowl can be good for Indianapolis. However, in the pursuit of the game, city leaders cannot lose sight of what their primary responsibility to the taxpayers.
December 9th, 2007 at 11:05 am
The Superbowl is a good idea as long as it can be done in conjunction with the many things that must be accomplished on the local and state levels over the next year.
Peace
December 9th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Indianapolis is a third level convention town. When people look to have a convention believe me, Indianapolis does NOT come to anyones mind. The only reason Indy gets any is because of racing, farming or the company is headquartered here.
As for the Superbowl, I think someone pointed out so beautifully someplace else, what did it do for Detroit?
*****the silence is deafening*****
December 9th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
Having been part of the organizing and operations committee of a national organization that held a conference in Indy I say Anonymouse is wrong. We were pleased with the assistance we received from the convention center and the surrounding hotels.
Visitors were excited at the opportunities of the area and took advantage of them all being within reasonable walking distance.
The next year the conference was held in Orlando, we were told how much easier and nicer it was to be in Indy and when were we going to host the conference again?!
Basically it is labeling, Vegas and Orlando are brand named. Indy is like a fine microbrewery, once you taste it you love it….but you have to find it first.
December 9th, 2007 at 4:53 pm
Did you see John Ketzenburger’s (sp?…dont really care) article today in the Star? Boy, was that nasty and hateful. What is his problem? I have always known that he leans towards the Dems, but that article was ridiculous. Especially considering the new mayor has not even taken office yet.
If you didn’t know any better you would think from his article that Fred Glass was teh second coming of the Messiah. Wow, that article really just through me off and I thought it was entirely inappropriate. Not to mention, I know quite a few business people myself and I have not heard one say anything as extreme as “we are waiting to judge the new mayor on how he handles the super bowl bid”…no i think most are concerned with property taxes
December 9th, 2007 at 6:37 pm
Anonymouse, if you pull real fast and quick, I think you can get your head from your posterior.
My company, and my professional association, book multiple large conferences per year. In that circle, Indianapolis is viewed as an eocnomical and well-planned venue. It can host most, but not all, large national-type events. The impact of conferences, is what really pushed the Convention Center expansion. Large conferences needed more room. One–the custom auto show–moved from Indy until we get more space, but they’re gladly coming back. They spend millions here, and they uniformly routinely cite our friendliness and hospitality, as main reasons for coming back.
A Super Bowl is a uniquely exciting venue. It would do us well to host one, if private funds can be used for the main components of the bid.
The new hurdle–a $1-for-50-cents approach, proposed here, is ridiculous, artificial and impossible to achieve.
It is fair to require that the city begin to focus on some of the thigns that concern residents, instead of the heavy focus on sports. I think we had an election las tmonth that led to that…
Maybe I oughta check with Anonymouse on that. (S)he has such a unique grip on the obvious.
December 9th, 2007 at 9:33 pm
Say, Think Again, how much do those conventions pay to use the space ? Nothing, right ? So how on earth is Convention City ever supposed to pay off the debt ? Aha – higher taxes.
It is immoral to spend money on hotels, convention centers, and sports when the city isn’t half as safe as it was 50 years ago.
December 10th, 2007 at 10:31 am
Statistically, for as long as the federal government has been keeping statistics, Indianapolis is actually safer from violent crime, by a hair, than it was in 1967, the first year reported.
The pile-on media in this town helps fan the flames, and any crime is too much. And, I want to be safer now, so I share your concern. But facts are a dangerous thing, Jay.
And where do you folks get this stuff? Conventions pay the going rate for convention space. Often, hotel rooms are discounted, or certain large blocks contain some complimentary rooms for association or corporate officers of the sponsoring convention. None of it is free.
And the dollars spent on restaurants, hotels, shopping, cabs, rental cars, etc., all help provide thousands of jobs.
I kinda miss seeing the Star Wars groupies parade around in constume. They left for Las Vegas, because they ran out of space here, but they’re coming back soon. Thirty thousand or so Pricess Leas and Obe Won Knobes. It was a gas, and they dropped dollars big-time.
Indy is at the top of the second tier of convention cities for affordabilitly, friendliness, and adaptable use of convention space. It will only get moreso.
You can have your own opinion, but you cannot have your own facts. Sorry.
December 10th, 2007 at 6:26 pm
I am a local freelance network cameraman who is involved in a lot of telecasts both here from Indianapolis and around the midwest. Just this past weekend, I worked the CBS telecast of the Indiana-Kentucky game. I remarked to one of the CBS staff cameramen from New York, that the Big Ten Men’s Tournament will be held here for the next five years, starting this coming March ’08. He remarked how glad he was that they were no longer going to have to go to Chicago for the games as everything here in the downtown is so convenient. He laughed about parking his rental car here for the last Final Four he was part of, and forgetting where he parked it as he never needed it once he checked into the hotel. The point here is that quite a few people who I work with from out of state are very happy about all of the events that this city stages. Their rooms are not “comped” albeit they might be charged a lower rate. And I know for sure they spend quite a bit of money on their meals and entertainment at our downtown bars and restaurants. They even prefered Indy to New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina did it’s damage to that city.