Officials with a Super Bowl bid committee representing the Minnesota Vikings and Minneapolis will get 15 minutes at a Tuesday presentation in Atlanta to make their case.
They’ll have to convince 32 NFL owners that the team’s glassy new $1 billion stadium will be the perfect place for the 2018 Super Bowl.
Minneapolis is in competition with New Orleans and Indianapolis for the game that shines a massive spotlight on its host city. Minneapolis’ bid team, led by led by U.S. Bancorp CEO Richard Davis and Carlson Cos. Board Chair Marilyn Carlson Nelson, will present first.
USA Today highlights the strengths of each city’s bid.
Insiders say New Orleans may have the best shot at the game. The Big Easy has hosted a record 10 previous Super Bowls. And there are sentimental factors at play: New Orleans city officials aim to use the Super Bowl as a launch pad to celebrate the city’s 300th birthday in 2018, and NFL owners might be inclined to side with longtime Saints owner Tom Benson, 87, who is perhaps making his final bid. More here in the New Orleans Times Picayune on the city’s bid.
Still, in recent years, cities with new stadiums fared well in Super Bowl bids: Dallas in 2011 hosted after the second season in its new stadium, and San Francisco will host in 2016 after the 49ers’ second season in Levi’s Stadium.
Minneapolis has secured about $40 million in commitments from corporations in the state to pay for costs associated with the event. Bid officials seemed unfazed by the prospect of luring fans to a cold-weather climate. “Our venue is warm,” Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority Chair Michele Kelm-Helgen said, the Star Tribune reported.
Here’s quick look at the intro to Minneapolis’ presentation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FI7fE-lBGcU
The Minneapolis bid has its own logo, unveiled Monday (turned on its side, it resembles the shape of Minnesota):
SNEAK PEEK: Minnesota Bid Committee releases Super Bowl 52 bid logo. #MNSuperBowl2018 pic.twitter.com/igNCiFfsNB
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) May 19, 2014
Among those who loaned their voices to the Super Bowl bid in videotaped speeches: longtime Vikings head coach Bud Grant, superstar running back Adrian Peterson, Olympic skier and Minnesota native Lindsey Vonn and celebrity chef Andrew Zimmern.
The Pioneer Press has more on the back story of how Vikings owners Zygi, Mark and Leonard Wilf started gunning for the Super Bowl right after the new stadium was approved.
