INDIANAPOLIS — With an impending lockout in March due to little progress toward a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, there is the possibility that the NFL season might begin later than normal. Even more frightening for Indianapolis, there is the possibility that the Super Bowl itself could be canceled if there is no season. If that happens, the city would be losing out on a big opportunity, one in which many people around Indianapolis have invested years of their lives.
The 2012 Indianapolis Super Bowl host committee estimates that the upcoming Super Bowl would bring in between $125 million and $400 million in immediate economic revenue to the city of Indianapolis. However, they believe that there is more to be gained than just short-term profit.
"The NFL estimates that over 60 percent of those people are corporate decision makers, so those are key people who, if they come to Indianapolis and have a positive experience, will come back," said Dianna Boyce, director of communications for the Indianapolis Super Bowl host committee. "They will bring their family here for a vacation, because they didn't know we have the world's largest children's museum. Or they will bring a meeting here or a convention because they didn't realize that we have 4,700 hotel rooms connected by skywalk or tunnel."
However, the host committee, as well as the city of Indianapolis, isn't concerning themselves with any of the labor dealings at this point.
"We have a window that we're prepared for the game to be played in, and that's consistent with what the NFL requests," said Marc Lotter, communications director in the office of Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard. "And all of our efforts are focused on having everything ready for the game to happen in that window."
Boyce agreed that, from their perspective, they can't afford to focus on anything other than holding the Super Bowl as planned.
"We are full steam ahead toward game day in February 2012," Boyce said. "To be otherwise would be a disservice to our community, our volunteers, the NFL, anybody associated with the game."
Still, the idea that a "window" has been discussed is news to most. According to Boyce, when Indianapolis made its Super Bowl bid in 2008, it was asked by the NFL to hold open the weekends of Feb. 5, the day on which the game is currently scheduled to be played, and Feb. 12. However, Boyce said that this provision was implemented for the chance of an 18-game schedule, a current point of contention in the labor negotiations, rather than for any type of lockout scenario.
There is precedent for the game being pushed back a week. Super Bowl XXXVI in New Orleans was held a week later than planned after the entire NFL schedule was delayed a week because of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
According to Boyce, a similar delay would not be a complicated procedure at all.
"It just impacts the schedule, it's just a shift of the dates, because we have a good partnership with our hotels and venues," Boyce said. "We're prepared to pick up and move everything a week if we need to do that. If you call that a contingency plan, I guess that would be the case."
While optimism surrounds the mayor's office and the host committee, others are not as sunny with their outlook. Within the past week, Indiana Senators Dan Coats and Richard Lugar, along with other Indiana members of Congress, sent a letter to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith urging them to reach agreement on a new CBA.
"An extended labor dispute would have a devastating economic impact on the thousands of businesses and individuals that rely directly and indirectly on the NFL for their livelihood," Coats and Lugar wrote. "Each regular season game brings millions of dollars in economic benefit to NFL cities such as Indianapolis, impacting not just players and coaches, but stadium employees, restaurants, hotels, retailers and others."
Not only were they concerned with these potential regular-season losses from a lockout, but more importantly they want to preserve their golden goose, the Indianapolis Super Bowl.
"As the home of the Indianapolis Colts and the host of Super Bowl XLVI, Hoosiers have a large stake in seeing owners and players reach an agreement," Coats and Lugar wrote. "The Bureau of Business Research at Ball State University has estimated that the game's cancellation could result in a net loss of as much as $200 million. As our state continues to recover from the recent economic crisis, it is critically important that the 2011 NFL season proceed unimpeded."
Adding on to the estimated losses are the facilities that recently have been upgraded. The Indianapolis International Airport's new Weir Cook Terminal opened in 2008 and cost a little more than $1 billion. The Indiana Convention Center, which will host the NFL Experience, was recently expanded, with a bill of $275 million. Finally, the brand-new Marriott Place Indianapolis Hotel Complex opened in February, adding another $450 million to the amount invested in Super Bowl facilities.
And don't forget about the stadium where the big game will be played. Lucas Oil Stadium, which was opened in August, 2008, came with a massive $720 million price tag.
While he wouldn't say they were explicitly upgraded for the Super Bowl, Chris Gahl, spokesperson for the Indianapolis Convention and Visitors Association, did admit that they were crucial components in the city's ability to host a game.
"In the last three years, Indianapolis has invested $3 billion in new tourism-related developments," Gahl said. "The above projects weren't just developed and put into place for the Super Bowl, rather as part of the city's long-term plan to grow tourism/sports events."
While there certainly would be damage to local businesses, some of the economic windfall from the Super Bowl would be unharmed, regardless of whether or not the game is played. As part of hosting the Super Bowl, Indianapolis received $1 million from NFL charities towards an NFL youth education town. In most cases, this money goes toward refurbishing an existing site, but Indianapolis has adopted a different strategy.
"We have taken that money and gotten more private investment to the tune of a new facility that is going to be $11.2 million, 27,000-square-foot facility on the near-East Side, and obviously that is something that will be hugely impactful way beyond February 2012," Boyce said. "It's an area on the East Side of Indianapolis that has about $35,000 residents who are not served by any sort of Boys and Girls Club or YMCA."
In addition to this new facility, Boyce said that the committee hopes to refurbish or rehab some 100-200 homes in the Indianapolis area.
If the game does indeed take place as scheduled, Indianapolis will be looking to raise the bar from the 2011 Super Bowl in North Texas that has come under a great deal of scrutiny. Between poor weather and a ticket fiasco, critics have ranked this past Super Bowl low on the fan-friendly list for the NFL's signature event. Indianapolis already has taken some notes on how it wants to handle its Super Bowl.
"They were dealt some very unfortunate, out-of-their-control acts of God that impacted the overall experience," Boyce said of North Texas. "What we would take from (the North Texas) experience is that we need to be on-point in trying to plan and expect the unexpected. Think through every scenario, think outside of our box, and think through how that impacts everything else."
At the same time, Indianapolis knows full well that it could have very similar weather to what the Dallas area faced.
"We realize that it is February," Boyce said. "If you come to Indianapolis in February without a winter coat, well shame on you, not shame on me. The fact that we could have a 50- or 60-degree day is certainly not outside the possibility, but it's not the average."
Another advantage that Indianapolis will have on Dallas is the coziness of the downtown set-up. Gahl noted how most of the downtown area is interconnected via enclosed skyways, including the major hotels that will be hosting the Super Bowl.
"Our governor likes to say, the couple of times he has been to the Super Bowl, everything takes 'bout an hour' to get to," Boyce said. "There won't be any ''bout an hours' here, because everything really is downtown."
With so much to gain from such a potentially unique Super Bowl, the host committee is trying to stay current on the latest from the labor negotiations. There is just too much at stake not to be interested.
"We're staying as up to speed as we can on it, and monitoring everything as well, but it can't impede us one bit," Boyce said. "It's amazing to me how much really does go into three years worth of planning for a game that seems like it's just one game for a couple hours on TV, but it's really not, especially for a community that hasn't done this before."
Cameron Richardson Chandra West Kasey Chambers Megan Ewing Kristanna Loken
