Submitted by: Submitted by donou1kf
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Category: Business and Industry
Date Submitted: 11/01/2011 09:47 AM
Section 1. Introduction and Background
The first Super Bowl was played in 1967, and in its 44 years of existence, the game has only been hosted in a cold weather city three times [20]. The 2012 Super Bowl scheduled to be played in Indianapolis will be the fourth, with Detroit, Pontiac (Michigan), and Minneapolis as its precedents. The bids from various cities hoping to host the game are voted on by National Football League owners and are judged upon their overall hosting ability, including community involvement, capacity of the stadium, and ability of the city to contain tourists and players. Indianapolis, with a population of roughly 830,000, won the bid to host the game in 2008, winning over Houston, Texas and Glendale, Arizona [21]. Indianapolis’ bid included their plans to construct a practice facility downtown that will be used for inner-city youth activities after the game. What likely tipped the votes in their favor was the $720 million investment in Lucas Oil Stadium in 2008, a stadium that holds just over 72,000 people which just meets the minimum capacity requirement of 70,000 set by the NFL [4].
Currently, labor disputes between the NFL and their players concerning salary amounts have created anxiety among the Indianapolis community. Eighteen games must be played in the regular season in order for the Super Bowl to take place as planned on February 5, 2012. The labor disputes have spurred Indianapolis to create a contingency plan in case the Super Bowl is postponed. They have February 12, 2012 reserved for a back-up date should the lockout force the Super Bowl to take place a week later than originally scheduled. This report will assume that the game will continue as scheduled on February 5th, although it must be mentioned that if the game is postponed or cancelled, there will clearly be higher costs for the city of Indianapolis.
This paper will explore the economic impacts of the Super Bowl on the city of Indianapolis. In the...