Having the Super Bowl in our city was an amazing experience (I'm not talking about the NFL experience or the mob scene on Friday night - that was another story). Indianapolis rose to the occasion, shining and impressing the country evident in the countless media articles and commentaries praising the hospitality and coziness of our lovely city. One such article I read stated the following:

I found that to be an interesting analogy that I could certainly relate to. And, the quote got me thinking, how is preparing the city of Indianapolis to host a major sporting event like the Super Bowl similar to training for a long distance race like a marathon? What's more, what are the similarities in the end results (actually pulling it off)?

Preparing and Training. Both take lots of time and hard work aiming toward the goal of improvement (improving health and endurance/ improving our city's infrastructure). Time for training is mostly the miles logged. Time for the city was the countless hours planning and re-planning, raising money and the actual time to complete development projects. I'm sure there's so much more that I could not even fathom to include in this article. Just one of the many examples is a low income area downtown where homes and businesses have been renovated. This community rehabilitation has inspired neighbors to take pride in their part of the city, one resident stated that "new businesses have popped up and broken-down homes have become beautiful".

End Results. John Livengood, head of the hotel and restaurant association in Indiana, said the payoff for pulling off a good Super Bowl experience is the champion image it conveys. Not, to mention a sense of accomplishment, pride, honor, respect, glory, etc. These results are similar to completing a marathon or accomplishing another type of major goal in your life whether it be physical or not. Another result to hosting the Super Bowl was the amount of money brought to our city. In the 10 days leading up to the game, more than 1.1 million visited Super Bowl Village, the open-air festival site in downtown Indianapolis surrounded by bars and restaurants. Another 265,000 people paid $25 a piece (don't remind me 😄) for admission into the theme-park-like NFL Experience in the Convention Center. Indy took this challenge seriously, put in the time, thought and effort that hosting the Super Bowl requires and was successful in delivery; but the city also had fun along the way!

Many of our clients volunteered in various SB events, and while they worked their fannies off, they all LOVED the experience and wear their complimentary apparel with pride. In comparison, completing a marathon (or any other endurance race) will land you a finisher's medal and a shirt to wear with great pride as well- Priceless!!