INDIANAPOLIS — The early reviews are in for the city’s first Super Bowl and they are through the roof.
Mayor Greg Ballard was at the Indianapolis International Airport Monday morning to thank the many travelers who visited Indianapolis.
”I want to make sure everything is going smoothly out here,” Ballard said. “This is the last piece of it. I want to make sure people get out of here safely and cleanly and I wanted to talk to some volunteers. It’s great feedback from what people are telling them. Everything has been very positive.”
With the success in Indianapolis, Ballard said that New Orleans -- a Super Bowl favorite locale -- has some big shoes to fill.
”We might have changed the game a little bit,” Ballard said. “New Orleans always puts on a good Super Bowl. We realize that this is going to be a tough one to beat, but that’s a great group and I’m sure that they will do really well next year. Others who are looking at it may need to realize that this game has changed a little bit with what we have been doing here this week.”
Being on center stage for the world has done nothing but raise the city’s stock in the eyes of onlookers.
”We certainly do have a great image now, no question about that,” Ballard said. “That is a big part of what we were trying to do. At the end of the day, this was about attracting creative, great talent to the city of Indianapolis. We’re looking to whatever we can do in that regard with business expansion and convention expansion. I’m hoping that people from not only around the country, but around the world, are seeing Indianapolis as a great place to live.”
One of the highlights of this Super Bowl was the Super Bowl Village, located on newly renovated Georgia Street. It was a hotbed for travelers, as well as Hoosiers, throughout the week.
According to the Super Bowl host committee, the NFL Experience set an all-time record with more than 260,000 people going through. In addition, it’s estimated that more than a million people went through the Super Bowl Village.
”I think Georgia Street and the village atmosphere was a big, big hit,” Ballard said. “We were prepared for the number of people who came down to the village area. I think that number was bigger than anyone was expecting. That was a lot of people coming down there, but we handled it pretty well. That’s something that’s pretty neat.”
Ballard said it took a lot of people behind the scenes to put on such a great show.
He said Indianapolis is now looking to the future and the possibility of hosting again.
”Earlier in the week, I said that eight to 10 years might be something that we could look at,” he said. “I didn’t want people to feel like this was a once in a lifetime experience. This is a great city and we know how to do these things. I also know that you have to raise some dollars to make it all happen. That’s why four to five years might be a little problematic in the short term.”
Ballard also said that, from what he hears, “the NFL is really looking at us on a regular basis.”
ryan.palencer@flyergroup.com
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