Just living life from Superbowl to Superbowl

Why do anything just for its own sake?

Big stakes are involved. The new airport terminal is part of a second-term push by Mayor Mitch Landrieu to revamp the city’s aging infrastructure, all with an eye toward showing off New Orleans for a potential 2018 Super Bowl during the city’s tricentennial.

When the mayor finally convinces everyone to move City Hall over to Charity Hospital, he should look into installing a permanent SuperBowl Preparation Task Force Bunker. Perhaps the new "Chief Resilience Officer" can have a desk there. 

Admittedly, it's hard work competing for these events.  You have to go in front of the NFL owners and put on a skit for them like on Glee but with really fancy payola.

The formal wooing commenced last week when every NFL owner received a personalized handcrafted cypress box. A list of the 10 previous Super Bowl hosted by the city is emblazoned on the inside cover. On the other side, an iPad jam packed with all of the ins and outs of New Orleans' bid (more than 200 pages in a paper copy) along with personalized messages for each owner.

Familiar New Orleans voices are heard throughout the tablet, with the likes of Archie Manning and Harry Connick Jr. being just two of the city's personalities joining in the pitch.

So far, the presentation has been well received among the league's owners.

"The Saints are a great barometer of how the rest of the league feels about our presentation so far, and everyone we've shown it to is like 'Wow!' It's a very creative and very unique presentation," Cicero said.

Neither Cicero nor Joffray wanted to tip their hand by revealing more details of the bid. Joffray simply described them as a "game changer."

It's important they don't "tip their hand" about those "game changers."  Your competetion is always on the lookout for weak spots.  Here is a report on the paranoia in the Indianapolis camp. 

Keeping secrets

Melangton doesn’t expect to use many of the tactics from the city’s previous bid process.

“Everyone realizes we have to raise the bar and to do that we have to have some out-of-the-box thinking,” she stressed.

Don’t expect Melangton to tip her hand on how the bid will be delivered or what’s in it.

“We won’t divulge any of that until after it’s delivered,” Melangton said.

In fact, some of the plan could be altered at the last minute.

“We’re constantly measuring what everyone else is doing,” she said.

In Minneapolis they've even got "secret weapons" 

Off the top, Davis said he wouldn't reveal "themes or secret weapons" in the bid or the details.  The panel is concerned about the other two cities monitoring the news and gaining an edge.

He asked reporters in the room to "be a visceral competitor for this city."

At the center of the bid, he noted, is the "iconic" new stadium set to open in 2016. He and the others talked about the cutting-edge facility. Davis dismissed the stadium opponents with, "We're going to build a new stadium; get over it."

They even busted out an "iconic" structure for the purpose.  And those "visceral competitors" in the local press can't hurt. I'm not entirely sure what that means but it sounds serious.

 Not sure how we're gonna match that.  Maybe if we built an extra airport.