Indy Doing Its Part to Prepare for Super Bowl (Just Need Players)

Officials organizing the 2012 Super Bowl in Indianapolis are comfortable with the progress of the event, which is slated to bring an economic impact of "at least $150 million" to the area, according to a recent Indianapolis Business Journal article. The Indy Star reports on the status of preparations:

Coordinators of Indianapolis’ 2012 Super Bowl efforts said during a briefing today that all plans are on schedule for the February event.

“At 300 days out, we are very pleased with where we are,” said Mark Miles, chairman of the 2012 Indianapolis Super Bowl Host Committee. “We are at or ahead of schedule in every respect.”

Well, except for one — the game itself.

The National Football League and the players’ union are at odds over a new collective bargaining agreement. The NFL initiated a lockout. The players have decertified their union, prompting charges of bad faith from the NFL. A federal judge in St. Paul, Minn., is expected to rule in the next couple weeks on the players’ request to lift the lockout.

As he has been saying for months, Miles and other Super Bowl planners expected the uncertainty. And he warned today that it may not be until late summer or early fall that anyone gets a good indication of whether there will be a shortened NFL season, or even one at all.

During today’s briefing, Miles preemptively broached the topic before taking reporters’ questions.

“Our job is to plan and to be prepared. And that’s exactly what we’re doing,” he said.

Asked whether he was encouraged by the federal judge’s recent statements urging the two sides to return to the bargaining table, Miles said: “Not really.”

Ultimately, he said, progress on the labor agreement front is out of the host committee’s hands.