When it comes to Super Bowls, it is all about the money

Indianapolis is batting .500 with Super Bowls now that the NFL owners voted in favor of the proposal from the North Texas group that will bring Super Bowl XLV to the new Texas Stadium.

The owners voted with their pocketbooks. The new Texas Stadium will have 100,000 seats, which is around 30,000 more than Lucas Oil Stadium, and will have approximately 60 more suites available for the game than Lucas Oil Stadium. The math is simple to do.

What is unfortunate, though, is that the quality of the event played a lesser role in the voting.

Indianapolis can host events. I do not have the data handy, but I believe that Indianapolis hosts two of the five biggest single-day sporting events in the United States with the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400. And even though they do not make the top five list in terms of size, the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix and its regular participation in the NCAA Men's Final Four add clout to the previously mentioned events at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

But it is not just about the size of the events. It is about how Indianapolis hosts the event. Indianapolis is not so big that a major sporting event is "just another event going on" like a Final Four could be in cities like Chicago, New York or Los Angeles. When an event comes to town, the event IS what is happening in Indy. Downtown gets themed decorations, parties are planned, concerts are held and restaurants put their best foot forward. The news media gives it lead coverage. Everything that happens in Indy during a big event is because of the event. And, really, that is what made the AFC Championship Game against the Patriots so awesome this year -- Indianapolis treated the game like it was the Men's Final Four. It had the parties, pep rallies and decorations. It was literally the only thing happening in town. And it was so much fun.

I can sit here an type on forever about events in Indy, but unless you have experienced it, my words will not do you justice (for what it is worth, if you have never been to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, I suggest you do so. It is a shrine to history the way Wrigley Field is a shrine). Trust me. Indy knows what it is doing.

So, when the owners voted to pad the pocketbooks of the league, the league missed out on the royal treatment Indianapolis would give it. It missed out on the hospitality. It missed out on the attention. It missed out on the logistical expertise in the city (the city has a big convention industry to go with its race day experience ... the convention industry almost directly kept the Colts from leaving to Los Angeles or other more desirable television markets because of the need to expand the Convention Center). It missed out on all the fun.

I am sure Dallas would host a great Super Bowl. But it is too bad that the NFL will not experience first hand why the NCAA brings the Men's Final Four here on a regular basis.