Bid Packages Latest Step Toward New Orleans Hosting SB XLVII

New Orleans Bid Package Includes iPod Uploaded With Presentation

Though New Orleans "already had public sentiment, a rock-solid financial proposal and Saints owner Tom Benson's considerable influence on its side in the bid" to land Super Bowl XLVII in '13, the bid now has the "intoxicating power of the city's creative mojo at work" according to the New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE's Jeff Duncan, who writes under the header, "Super Bowl XLVII Almost A Lock For New Orleans." Bid packages mailed by the New Orleans Super Bowl committee yesterday to NFL owners and execs "befit New Orleans' rich cultural history," and the 55 reports are "housed in handmade wooden boxes, engraved locally from Louisiana cypress and fitted with marine brass fixtures salvaged from Mississippi River docks." Each box is "inset with a customized wooden placard bearing the logo of each team, hand-painted by young artists." The box also contains an "intro to New Orleans, the league's bid specifications and letters of recommendation from local dignitaries." In addition, there is  "an I-Pod with a 2 1/2-minute audio-video overview and a small flash-card leaflet summarizing the presentation." Duncan writes the only thing holding back the city's bid for a Super Bowl in "recent years was bureaucracy," but with an agreement on a Superdome lease between the state and the Saints "in place and a renovated Superdome on the way, those hurdles have been cleared" (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 5/7). In N.Y., Judy Battista wrote it is likely that the NFL "will return to New Orleans when owners award the 2013 game at meetings later this month" (N.Y. TIMES, 5/6).

Tuck Feels Super Bowl Should Stay Stateside

DON'T WANT TO GO TO LONDON: Giants DE Justin Tuck said of reports the Super Bowl will be played in London, "I don't think we should take our Super Bowl over there just because ... you want people to know what's going on." Tuck, who played in the Giants-Dolphins game at Wembley Stadium in '07, said, "The fans were cheering when they threw a flag. Obviously in London, they have another football and that's called soccer, and that's what they knew" ("Mike & Mike in the Morning," ESPN2, 5/5). In Detroit, Tony Augusty wrote, "I hope for our great nation's sake NFL officials are telling the truth" in denying the London Super Bowl reports. Augusty: "A Super Bowl in London would be like watching a World Series in Toronto, or the WNBA Finals anywhere. Something just wouldn't feel right" (DETROIT NEWS, 5/6). But PRO FOOTBALL TALK’s Mike Florio said playing a Super Bowl in London is "going to happen." Florio: "The NFL wants to become a global phenomenon. What better way then to send a Super Bowl to London? It’s one day, it’s one game. ... It’s an event. Let’s take it and make it the biggest sporting event in the history of sports" (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 5/6).