The Super Bowl LII climbs on Sunday in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Pauli. Paul (Sunday, from 23.45 hrs live on DAZN). Traditionally, the finals of an NFL season take place in southern regions, but an ambitious committee managed to convince the league to play in the “Bold North”. The cities can now look forward to a large crowd of spectators, which promises the catchment area a lot of money.
If in a few days’ time the 52. In the second edition of the Super Bowl between the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots, the people of Minnesota are only neutral observers. In a bitter way, their vikings in the NFC Championship Game clearly missed the chance to be the first team in the history of the NFL to contest a Super Bowl in front of their own audience. But whoever thinks that the inhabitants of Minnesota are disillusioned by the bank is wrong.
After all, the state can look forward to a great victory at a completely different level. Less than four years ago, the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan region emerged as a blatant underdog for the Super Bowl LII against New Orleans and Indianapolis rivals.
“All the journalists and TV stations have stationed in front of the New Orleans team’s room,”recalled Marilyn Carlson Nelson, board member of the Minnesota Super Bowl Host Committee, recalling the May 2014 award ceremony in Atlanta,”When we were awarded the contract, the entire crew pushed their way through the corridor in front of our meeting room”.
One of the main reasons for the NFL’s decision to go to Minnesota in the far north with this year’s Super Bowl was the plan to build a new stadium. The U. S. Bank Stadium is an arena built exclusively for major events such as the Super Bowl, according to the blueprints of that time.
With 66,655 seats, it is one of the league’s more subdued stadiums. However, 73,000 people will be able to take part in the Super Bowl with additional grandstands. The real highlight of the U. S., completed in 2016. Bank Stadium, however, is the roof, the first fully transparent in an American stadium. Its slant also allows to control large masses of snow. Embarrassment such as the collapse of the Metrodome in the 2010 season should thus be a thing of the past.
“Everyone likes to play in a new stadium,”said Maureen Bausch, chairwoman of the host committee. In the meantime, Minneapolis has also secured the contract for the upcoming X Games and the NCAA Final Four 2019.
In order to save costs, the Vikings did not have a retractable roof, which is rarely needed in cold Minnesota anyway. The total cost of the project was $1.1 billion, about $800 million cheaper than currently planned for the Raiders’ Las Vegas Stadium.
The Host Committee knew the U. S. Bank Stadium as the ultimate argument, and brought the event into the “Bold North”for the second time after the Super Bowl XXVI in 1992. However, the city can also be rewarded for this success: Chairman Bausch, formerly managing director of the world’s most-visited shopping center, the Mall of America, collected around half a million dollars in 2016 alone.
However, the effort and expense of a Super Bowl is worth it. According to a study of the Super Bowl LI, the event added value of around 350 million US dollars to the Houston catchment area. Three years ago, at the Super Bowl XLIX in Glendale, Arizona, the effect was more than doubled to $720 million. However, the Pro Bowl also took place there seven days earlier, which made the NFL and many fans stay longer.
Due to the attractiveness and location of Minneapolis in the cold north, not as many guests are expected as in previous years, but the onslaught will nevertheless be noticeable. The NFL reserved 19,000 hotel rooms immediately after the Super Bowl LII was awarded. According to StarTribune, there are only about 40,000 rooms in the region, half of which are reserved exclusively for the league, media representatives and the two teams of the Patriots and Eagles.
Many of the expected 100,000 fans will therefore switch to private accommodation, and the residents of Minneapolis-Saint Paul take advantage of this. Six days before the Super Bowl, SPOX made a quick check on a private marketplace for renting accommodation to find out how many free beds are still available.
“404 percent more travellers are looking for accommodation in Minneapolis,”was a prominent reference on the homepage. But there were still plenty of offers. Of the first ten advertisements placed within walking distance of the U. S. Bank Stadium, six were created exclusively for this week. Bookings with other travel dates outside the Super Bowl weekend are not possible.
If you book one of these accommodations for Friday to Monday around the Super Bowl, the rooms are two to eight times more expensive than for the same period three weekends later.
Once they have found affordable accommodation, the Twin Cities try to do everything they can to present themselves to their visitors during the Super Bowl Week,”We’re doing things that no state or host has ever done for a Super Bowl,”Bausch explained.
Ice sculptures are scattered throughout the city, including a 68-ton LII lettering on the streets of Minnesota. A mobile wooden bridge, which is normally used for cross-country skiing races, was transported to the city and advertised as an attraction – all a matter of marketing.
The biggest highlight, however, is the Bold North Zip Line, on which you will float for 30 seconds over the Mississippi River along a rope slide.
With countless attractions like these, the Metropolitan Region wants to leave a lasting impression on fans, hoping that some of them will think about the great time in Minnesota when they are planning their next holiday,”I hope viewers will notice that and go home with the feeling:” Wow, I’ll be back,”Bausch said to the side events.
I’ve always felt a certain attachment to Minnesota,”said Patriots quarterback Tom Brady to ESPN,” I spent a few weeks there with my family every year.”
“In summer we went fishing, in winter ice-fishing and helping my grandfather out on the farm and milking cows,”he described a typical holiday in North Star State,”It was a good time for me considering that I was born in California.”
To this day, relatives of Brady’s still live in Minnesota, so “a lot of support” is assured when he challenges Nick Foles and the Eagles in the Super Bowl.
In order to be present at the showdown next Sunday, you will need a well-filled purse. According to seatgeek. com, a ticket on the secondary market cost an average of 4,000 US dollars six days before the Super Bowl.
But this is almost a bargain compared to the amount you had to spend a short time before. TickPick, the card provider, states that the prices peaked at the 7-0 lead of the Vikings in the NFC Championship Game. An average ticket cost a whopping 8,000 US dollars and the cheapest ticket cost an average of 5,700 US dollars.
TickPick’s managing director told the Washington Post that it was extremely difficult to find the perfect time when tickets are cheapest. However, he noted that historical data would identify the period between Monday and Wednesday before the Super Bowl as “something like a sweet spot”.
When Maureen Bausch opened the Facebook group of volunteers for the Super Bowl after the NFC Championship Game, she saw some entries mourning the loss of the historic opportunity of a home Super Bowl.
But the basic tenor was also to represent Minnesota as best as possible, to be friendly and to welcome every guest. And to show the NFL that the award of the Super Bowl LII to Minnesota was the perfect decision.