Mark Miles, President and CEO Central Indiana Corporate Partnership, Inc.
April 10, 2012
Mark D. Miles, President & CEO of Central Indiana Corporate Partnership, Inc., gave a lecture to students called “Super Bowl XLVI: The Indianapolis Way.” Miles gave students a first hand perspective about the extensive planning that went into hosting an event of such prestige. From the beginning, Miles explained how Indianapolis was a nontraditional candidate for a super bowl host city, so they had to convince the NFL why they were the best choice. Miles and his team believed that the dense, urban setting of Indianapolis had the capability to unify people based on physical proximity. In light of the economic downturn, the event planning committee went to over 130 companies and asked them to pledge their support to the event. Even with zero benefits, these companies were good corporate citizens and collectively pledged 27 million dollars. In an unprecedented gesture, Miles and his team were able to present their plans to the super bowl committee with the event fully funded. The main vision for the event was the emphasis on the Super Bowl as “more than a game.” They outlined four game goals that would add huge benefits to the community. They wanted to leave a legacy for the community, engage residents statewide, identify and deploy new and diverse civic talent, and exceed the NFL and world’s expectations. Miles wanted to give new, young talent a chance to exercise their skills on a large project: 47% of the committee chairs were first-timers. He explained that these young professionals would go on to do great work in other projects and foster future community development through their involvement in activities such as little league, church, and civic engagement. One of the other major planning components of the event was anticipating the unknown. One threat to the event’s success was the pending NFL lockout. Miles said that the committee kept a positive mindset and didn’t even consider the possibility of the game being completely discontinued. However, the committee did have to negotiate with all of the downtown hotels to have them reserve two consecutive weekend dates-four days total-until the event was officially scheduled. Another risk of hosting the event in Indianapolis was the unpredictable weather in February. One of the last aspects of the event that Miles spoke about was the huge press benefit that the event provided for Indianapolis. Jimmy Fallon provided four hours of exceptional Indianapolis coverage, the Today Show equaled nine hours, and much more national and local coverage all positively endorsed the Hoosier State. The positive press coverage helps leave a lasting legacy for Indianapolis. Overall, the event was a huge success, but only with very detailed planning and vast civic engagement statewide.