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Jim Irsay Planning To Be At Super Bowl Bid Presentation In Atlanta

Intro: On Wednesday, Indiana Sports Corporation president Allison Melangton and Colts Chief Operating Officer Pete Ward held a press conference on Indianapolis’ 2018 Super Bowl bid. How is Indianapolis preparing for the final vote on May 20th?

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INDIANAPOLIS – The boxed Super Bowl bids were glowing with glamour and inside was Indianapolis' master plan.

A total of 900 pages make up the Circle City's 2018 Super Bowl bid and an abbreviated version of that will be finding the hands of NFL owners on Wednesday.

Indianapolis finds itself as one of three finalists, along with Minneapolis and New Orleans, for Super Bowl LII.

On May 20th, the Indianapolis Super Bowl contingent will head down to Atlanta to present their bid at the NFL Owners Meetings.

Colts Chief Operating Officer Pete Ward said on Wednesday that Owner Jim Irsay is planning on being down in Atlanta for Indianapolis' presentation.

"Every owner of the franchises whose city is bidding has a chance to talk for five minutes, so (Irsay) plans on talking to the ownership," Ward said.

"He's very excited about the bid. He has become increasingly more active in terms of lobbying and just keeping tabs on how things are going."

An advantage that Indianapolis will carry with them to Atlanta is the success that the city had in hosting Super Bowl XLVI.

Lucas Oil Stadium has been voted the league’s No. 1 stadium in the NFL and now the venue will try and host its second Super Bowl in seven years.

"We continue to get, not only league personnel but national media telling us what a great job Indianapolis did in 2012," Ward said.

"The Colts are really proud to be involved and in support of this bid."

Allison Melangton, President of the Indiana Sports Corporation, fielded many of the questions at Wednesday's press conference in helping to explain the Super Bowl bidding process.

While specific details of Indianapolis bid weren't given (due to competitive advantages against other cities), Melangton did mention a few of the additions to this years' bid.

Melangton said that an expanded Super Bowl village is included, along with a social media command center and a Super Bowl boulevard, which the NFL requires in the bidding process.

One positive from previous years is some of the unique amenities Indianapolis displayed in 2012 are now requirements for any city biding to host.

With much of the same leadership in place from previous bids, Melangton feels comfortable with Indianapolis third attempt.

"The last two times we bid, we were trying to convince them that we could do this based on our track record of other events…it's a little different this time," Melangton said.

"For me personally, that's a little more comfortable. I'm not saying that means we have advantage across the three bids, I'm saying that at least we have beautiful pictures that we can use in the bid related to the Super Bowl. We executed a great event. We absolutely believe that a cornerstone of our strength is that we pre-funded our host committee with corporations from Indiana."

The next 13 days is all about fine-tuning the 15-minute presentation that Indianapolis will give to the NFL owners down in Atlanta.

Voting will take place shortly thereafter and Indianapolis will know whether or not they can add, again, one of the world's most iconic events to their already illustrious list.

"A lot of running a Super Bowl has to do with event execution and there's no city in the country that has run more sporting events than we have, hands down," Melangton said.

"We have the experience to be able to execute and flawlessly organized Super Bowl and we feel that's a very strong selling point."

Various shots of Indianapolis 2012 Super Bowl Village

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