Indianapolis is no stranger to hosting large events. Look no further than the annual Indianapolis 500 mile race, which is the largest attended single day sporting event in the world. Despite the fact that the 500 is way past its prime in popularity, it still draws approximately 300,000 people each year. The Super Bowl crowds this year will be half as large. Yet hosting the Super Bowl is huge for our city for other reasons. Football is more popular in America than racing. Not only does the sporting world focus on the Super Bowl, but the entertainment and celebrity world does as well. Also, did I mention 100 million world wide viewers? The Super Bowl is a big, big deal for the city of Indianapolis and central Indiana.
I'm planning on heading downtown twice over the next week. I'll let you know how it goes in my next post. I'm a little nervous about it, to be honest. Part of me is thinking it will be just like every other trip downtown except twice the price and four times the hassle. The other part of me is excited. It will definitely be a ton of people having a good time, with the possibility of some celebrity sight seeing. Either way, make no doubt about it. Hosting the Super Bowl is a big victory for a small market Midwest city. I'll let you know how Super Bowl city is next week, hopefully with some pictures.
Do you have any idea on how many motel rooms Indy has? I heard a number as low as 6,000, but don't believe it would be that low.
ReplyDeleteJoe
I think it is actually closer to 30,000 rooms. The new JW Marriott has over 1,000 rooms itself.
ReplyDeleteSarah has pictures already. By the way what hat were you wearing? Didn't look like a Colts hat.
ReplyDeleteJoe
He was actually wearing a (somewhat old-school) Colts hat. It has a colt with blue and white around it. It's pretty clear in person but not so much in the picture. Maybe I'll get him to wear it the next time we come down. :o)
ReplyDeleteWhat pictures? I wanna see! :-) auntie 502
ReplyDeleteI posted some on my website this morning. :o)
ReplyDeleteJoe, I just read an article saying there were 6,500 rooms, but I think that is just counting downtown and not all of the other hotels around the perimeter of the city and in the suburbs. I was thinking the total number of hotel rooms was much higher than that but I could be wrong.
ReplyDelete