NFL

Bucs owners sure of Super bid

Deep pockets and area's plethora of activities could lure the big game back to Tampa in 2009.

By BRIAN LANDMAN
Published May 21, 2005

TAMPA - Bucs executive vice president Bryan Glazer may be a bit biased, but he likes this community's chances to win the 2009 Super Bowl during next week's NFL owners' meeting.

"We think our competition is good, we think we're better," he said Friday of Tampa's bid package.

Atlanta, Miami and Houston are also vying for the game. All four will make 15-minute presentations on Wednesday in Washington for the owners, who are expected to decide the winner that afternoon.

Tampa, which hosted the Super Bowl in 1984, 1991 and 2001, is banking on its balmy weather and what visitors can do outdoors - Busch Gardens, the beaches and golf.

Officials, including the Glazers, are calling the other owners trumpeting those selling points as well as sending each a beach towel, information about a lucrative golf enhancement that will provide free access to courses in the area for owners and their guests, a dozen golf balls and an Arnold Palmer putter.

In fact, Palmer is endorsing Tampa's bid, sending a letter to the owners and providing a short video testimonial that will be played as part of Tampa's presentation.

"We are delighted he's stepped forward," said Dick Beard, chairman of the local Super Bowl task force, who along with Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio and Hillsborough County Commissioner Jim Norman will address the owners.

The Tampa delegation will be 15 people in all.

Beard also said Busch Gardens would be the site of a private party for the owners and their guests, likely on Super Bowl eve.

"We've sent a lot of our sponsors and invited guests to the game, and you always have trouble with (finding) something for them to do," said Glazer, who politely declined to answer any question about his family's $1.47-billion takeover of storied soccer team Manchester United. "So the party at Busch Gardens, I don't want to underestimate how important that is from an owner's perspective."

Along with the golf and other game-day financial commitments, Tampa has an enhancement package worth about about $10-million, triple what the next best city is offering, Beard said.

"We have a very strong bid; technically we have the best bid out there," Glazer said.

Local officials, after making calls to the owners to lobby them, maintain Atlanta seems to be the chief competition. Miami, after all, will host the 2007 Super Bowl, and Houston had the game in 2004. Atlanta's bid includes the promise of $150-million in improvements to the Georgia Dome, and Falcons owner Arthur Blank could ask his brethren to reward that. Beard called it the only "issue" for Tampa.

"If a great stadium, great ownership, great weather and a lot of effort will win this thing," Beard said, "it will be in Tampa Bay in '09."

[Last modified May 21, 2005, 01:04:09]