Houston's business and hospitality industry leaders along with government officials will put together a bid to host Super Bowl XVLI in February 2012, it was announced Wednesday.
"When I received the bid specifications from the NFL, I circulated them to leaders in the community to get their response," said Robert C. McNair, Chairman and CEO of the Houston Texans. "Their response was an overwhelming and totally-committed 'YES, we want to bring the 2012 Super Bowl to Houston!' With that, I said I would totally support our community's efforts."
In February 2004, Houston hosted Super Bowl XXXVIII. It was considered a huge success by NFL owners and staff; by tens of thousands of out-of-town visitors, including thousands of members of the media from around the world; and by hundreds of thousands of Houstonians who participated in dozens of Super Bowl related activities.
"In addition to having a tremendous economic impact on our hospitality industry, the Super Bowl allowed Houston to step onto the world's stage and our hospitality industry hosted the event in magnificent fashion, as evidenced by the enormous positive media coverage," said Thomas Jones, Jr., Chairman of the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau. "We will aggressively meet and exceed the NFL's requirements."
Added Greg Ortale, President and CEO of the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau: "The last time Houston hosted the Super Bowl over 100,000 people visited our great city and created an economic impact of $300-plus million. We will happily play our part in assembling a stellar bid for the NFL's consideration."
As in 2004, Reliant Park will serve as the focal site for the 2012 Super Bowl bid. No other Super Bowl site can boast an NFL stadium capable of holding 72,000-plus, a convention center with nearly one million square feet, and over 26,000 parking spaces on 340 contiguous acres.
"In terms of providing the NFL with everything they want and more, we believe Reliant Park delivers their wants and desires unlike any other facility in the country," said Shea Guinn, President of SMG-Reliant Park. "The feedback we received from the NFL regarding our facilities in 2004 was extremely positive and we have even more to add for the 2012 bid."
In addition to Reliant Park, Houston will offer the George R. Brown Convention Center -- another Houston convention center with nearly one million square feet of exhibit space, plus dozens of other city-owned and privately-owned facilities for the NFL's use.
With two international airports, thousands of hotel rooms, world-renowned restaurants and retail experiences, and some of the finest sports and convention facilities in the world, there are no NFL requirements that Houston cannot meet or exceed.
