FUTURE SUPER BOWL SITES
2017: NRG Stadium, Houston
2018: U.S. Bank Stadium, Minneapolis
2019, 2020 and 2021: To be decided Tuesday
Atlanta will find out Tuesday if the Super Bowl will come to town for the first time since 2000.
NFL owners will vote at a meeting in Charlotte, N.C., on the sites of the 2019, 2020 and 2021 Super Bowls, with Atlanta among the five cities bidding to host the mega-events.
What you need to know about the vote:
Q: Who is Atlanta’s competition?
A: The other bidders are Miami, New Orleans and Tampa for the 2019 game and Los Angeles, Miami and Tampa for the 2020 and 2021 games. Atlanta is bidding for all three games, but no city will be awarded more than one.
Q: What is Atlanta’s main pitch?
A: "The presentation will highlight Atlanta's unique attributes as a host city for major sporting events, including Mercedes-Benz Stadium, a walkable downtown district, first-class attractions and several thousand hotel rooms in close proximity to the stadium that will all add to the fan experience," Atlanta Sports Council executive director Dan Corso said.
Q: Does the new stadium, slated to open next year and funded in part with taxpayer dollars, ensure Atlanta a Super Bowl?
A: There are no guarantees in this process because the 32 NFL owners vote by secret ballot and are free to vote for whoever they want for whatever reason they want. But while there are no guarantees, there is a clear trend: All four NFL stadiums that have opened since 2008 have hosted a Super Bowl, and another stadium opening this year (in Minneapolis) has the 2018 game. "I think the amount of public support we've gotten in construction from the governor and the mayor and the city council is going to be important to the owners," Falcons owner Arthur Blank said.
Q: What do the other bidders offer?
A: Miami is pitching an ongoing $450 million makeover of the Dolphins' stadium and the lure of a Super Bowl in South Florida. Los Angeles is riding the wave of its return to the NFL after a 21-year absence and a planned $2.6 billion stadium complex. New Orleans is seen by some as a quintessential Super Bowl site, having hosted the event 10 times, and there could be sentiment to return the game there for 88-year-old Saints owner Tom Benson. Tampa has hosted four Super Bowls and is renovating its stadium.
Q: How will the decision be made?
A: Behind closed doors, the owners will hear an overview of the bids from league staff, a 15-minute presentation from each city's bid committee and a five-minute appeal from the team owner in each bid city. Then, following an opportunity for questions, the vote will occur — first for 2019, next for 2020 and finally for 2021. Seventy-five percent of the votes (24 of 32) are required to win on the first ballot for each game, although a simple majority can prevail after multiple ballots.
Q: How much does it cost to host the Super Bowl?
A: Arizona's 2015 host committee operated with a budget of about $30 million, covering a wide range of expenses associated with putting on the game, as is typical. The Atlanta host committee's funding would come from a portion of the city's hotel-motel tax designated for such purposes and from corporate fund-raising, Corso said. The hotel-motel tax was increased in 2011 from 7 percent to 8 percent with the additional 1 percent for major events. This year, the Georgia Legislature exempted Super Bowl tickets from sales taxes, as the NFL demands of bidders.
Q: What is the economic benefit of hosting the Super Bowl?
A: Estimates vary wildly and are hotly debated. The hosts of the 2011 through 2016 Super Bowls claimed local economic impacts ranging from $200 million to $719 million. Many independent economists have argued all of the figures are too high. Arizona's claim of a $719 million impact from the 2015 game included $295 million in spending by visitors and the rest in "ripple effect." Minnesota's host committee last month released a study projecting the 2018 Super Bowl will have a $338 million impact.
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