winter the curse in Super Bowl bid

Golden shovels and bulldozers await the official groundbreaking at the site of the new Vikings stadium outside the Metrodome on Tuesday morning, Dec. 3, 2013. Sinner)

The Minnesota Bid Committee for Super Bowl LII released its bid logo Monday. (Courtesy of the Vikings)

Bud Grant failed to win a Super Bowl in four attempts as Vikings head coach during the 1970s. Running back Adrian Peterson has never qualified in seven superstar seasons with Minnesota.

Yet civic duty calls the icons to help deliver a defining victory for the franchise Tuesday when the Vikings and Minnesota Super Bowl LII committee woo league owners for the chance to play host to the NFL championship game in 2018.

The competition is formidable; New Orleans and Indianapolis already have been host to successful Super Bowls, and each has the major advantage of a venue that is actually built.

But Minnesota has advantages, as well. 4, 2018 26 years after Super Bowl XXVI was staged at the demolished Metrodome.

Videotaped speeches from Grant, Peterson and other local celebrities including Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn and chef Andrew Zimmern will help bring Minnesota's detailed bid to life this week in the ballroom of Atlanta's Ritz Carlton Hotel.

"We're going to put a plan together that will blow their mind," Davis said.

Landing the 52nd Super Bowl and its weeklong festival of football and commerce would be a coup for Wilf and his brother, Zygi, the Vikings' chairman. The Wilfs successfully lobbied the Legislature in 2012 for $498 million to help build a futuristic indoor stadium on the old Metrodome site.

The yet to be named $976 million venue is the centerpiece of Minnesota's bid. At the moment, it's merely a gigantic hole in the middle of a construction site. The Wilfs' fellow owners will have to rely on renderings and interactive computer programs to envision the event.

"It's very competitive," wholesale soccer jerseys said Lester Bagley, the club's vice president of public affairs/stadium development. "In terms of projecting our chance, we delivered a great bid. That was our goal make it hard for NFL owners to choose someone other than Minnesota. We did that."

New Orleans is the consensus favorite among sports marketers, having already hosted 10 Super Bowls tied with Miami for most. The renowned party town will celebrate its 300th anniversary in 2018 and is counting on the NFL to kick off a yearlong celebration.

Moreover, New Orleans is the warm weather destination that does not require outdoor fire pits and heat lamps to thaw its roving guests like Minneapolis and Indianapolis, whose compact and pedestrian friendly downtown was widely praised by 2012 Super Bowl attendees.

"One major consideration, even though the game will be held indoors, would certainly be the weather and the what ifs," said Robert Tuchman, president of Goviva, a New York based corporate travel and hospitality agency. The game started in 50 degree temperatures just ahead of a snowstorm that buried the area on Monday.

"Maybe we're stupidly confident," said Minnesota delegation co chair Doug Baker, CEO of Ecolab. "We're quite proud of the bid we put together. I think they want a first class Super Bowl. I also think there's political stuff we don't understand."