Ben Goessling, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Minneapolis' Super Bowl 52 plans already taking shape

MINNEAPOLIS -- We're just over 48 hours from the kickoff of Super Bowl XLIX in Arizona, which means the festivities leading up to Sunday's game are in their final days. For the cities that will host Super Bowls in future years, though, the preparations are already in full swing.

At the moment, there are three communities that know their turn in the national spotlight is coming, and the one with the most time still to prepare is our own. The Twin Cities will host Super Bowl LII in 2018, and Minneapolis' Super Bowl committee has been in the Phoenix area all week, taking notes about how it might want to stage its own event in three years and doing some public relations work for what could be the coldest Super Bowl host city in more than a decade.

Yes, it's going to be cold in Minneapolis and St. Paul when the Super Bowl comes to town, and there's certain to be plenty said about the lack of sand and surf available for one of the nation's largest parties. (As Minneapolis' marketing folks are sure to tell you, though, there's more shoreline in Minnesota than in California, Florida and Hawaii combined. It's just that most of it surrounds frozen lakes in the wintertime.)

Maureen Bausch, the Mall of America's executive VP of business development who's currently serving as the Minneapolis Super Bowl committee's CEO, knows there'll be work to do to sell national travelers on the Twin Cities. The attempt to reframe Super Bowl LII's chilly climate are already underway.

"I think it's all about people," Bausch said. "If we make them feel good, they're going to have a good time. Arizona's done a good job of that, even in the rain. It's about showcasing our people, our sophisticated marketplace, our innovations. It's about showcasing all that we do in Minneapolis and St. Paul, and changing what people [think]. We're not Fargo -- not that Fargo's bad, but [we're not] the movie and everything."

The NFL will visit Minneapolis' proposed Super Bowl sites in March, and review the city's plans for the event. Nicollet Mall will tentatively host the Super Bowl Central fan activities, while the NFL Experience interactive exhibit will be in the Minneapolis Convention Center. Media day could be in either the Target Center in Minneapolis or the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, though concerns about the cramped quarters of this year's media day in the U.S. Airways Center could lead the committee to consider putting the event back in the stadium, where it has traditionally been.

Bausch said the Twin Cities' Super Bowl bid included events in both Minneapolis and St. Paul, adding the Super Bowl will coincide with St. Paul's Winter Carnival, which is expected to include an ice castle for the first time since the NHL All-Star Game was in town in 2004.

On Saturday, the Minneapolis Super Bowl committee will stage an event at the Arizona Biltmore hotel, where Vikings players  Teddy Bridgewater, Greg Jennings, Kyle Rudolph, Harrison Smith and Andrew Sendejo will help unveil the city's Super Bowl LII logo. The group's presence at Super Bowl L next year in San Francisco, and Super Bowl LI in Houston in 2017, will be even bigger, Vikings VP of public affairs Lester Bagley said.

By 2018, the group hopes fans, sponsors and dignitaries have warmed to the Twin Cities as a host.

"Being a retailer, it's your time to buy the very best winter clothes. Come prepared -- it's going to be a fashion show of beautiful winter clothes," Bausch joked. "I feel so bad for Arizona, because in rain, you can't do anything. In snow, we have fun."

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