Minnesota sports and hospitality officials are "hoping to use the momentum" gained from winning the bid for Super Bowl LII to "land a host of other major sporting events," according to Mike Kaszuba of the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE. Getting the Super Bowl is "being viewed as a boost to a current bid to land college basketball’s Final Four, will likely bring new energy to a failed attempt to host the upcoming college football playoffs and perhaps put Minneapolis in the mix for the Big Ten football championship." Minneapolis earlier this month "submitted its formal bid ... to play the Final Four at the new Vikings stadium" in '17, '18, '19 or '20, and a decision is "expected in November." Meet Minneapolis President & CEO Melvin Tennant said, "Cleary, it puts us in the game for any major event. This opens up a lot of doors for us." CFP Exec Dir Bill Hancock said that Minneapolis "would likely not be considered" for the '18 championship because the city "would already be hosting the Super Bowl." Getting a CFP game also is "complicated because the semifinal rounds, at least for now, are tied to the traditional year-end bowl games." Meanwhile, Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said that he would like the conference's football championship game to "remain centrally located." NCAA Dir of Media Coordination & Statistics David Worlock said that the Big Ten "was not taking bids for where the game will be held" in '16 and beyond, but added that recommendations "could come before conference officials shortly." Kaszuba noted landing the Big Ten basketball tournament -- at least at the new Vikings Stadium -- "could be more problematic" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 5/26).
BEHIND CLOSED DOORS: THE MMQB's Peter King reported the Vikings' bid to host Super Bowl LII won "on the fourth ballot, requiring a simple majority" of NFL owners' votes. The Saints "thought they had 15 votes, so theoretically the vote could have been 17-15, Minnesota; the owners aren’t told what the vote was." King: "Whatever it was, the upshot was easy. Sentimentality was out" (MMQB.SI.com, 5/26). In Baton Rouge, Ted Lewis writes New Orleans "put in its strongest possible bid, but perhaps basing its central message" on '18 being the city's 300th anniversary "didn’t resonate among the owners as much as the organizing committee hoped" (Baton Rouge ADVOCATE, 5/27).
