Atlanta - Solely, New Orleans will present a bid to host the Super Bowl in 2024 at the NFL Spring Meeting on Wednesday at The Whitley hotel. But exclusivity wasn't grounds for overconfidence on Tuesday.
Looking to slam shut the door on the process, the presentation contingent - including New Orleans Saints owner Gayle Benson and team president Dennis Lauscha - prepared Tuesday night to dot i's and cross t's in the effort to secure New Orleans' 11th Super Bowl, the eighth in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome and the first for the city since Super Bowl XLVII in 2013.
"We're optimistic, obviously," Lauscha said. "But there's still some work to do. We have some work tonight that we have to do. It's not over until you have the final vote. We're excited about it, excited for our city, and we'll see what happens."
It's not an unfamiliar process for the Saints and the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation.
New Orleans was considered a strong contender for the most recent Super Bowl, LII, when the bids were presented in 2014. However, the game was awarded to Minneapolis.
Thus, while confident, the approach this year carries some wariness.
"That's the No. 1 thing that we're doing, we want to be prepared," Lauscha said. "It's our third presentation in the last three presentation periods, and we've done a lot of this. I think we feel good about it but, again, we want to be prepared.
"The Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation folks are all huddled in a room upstairs and we'll try to work everything out. Last-minute details will be worked out and we'll be ready to go (Wednesday)."
Lauscha said getting back the Super Bowl will be a boon for New Orleans and for the city, it would be the latest in a string of sports successes that include the Saints winning the NFC South Division and a Wild Card Playoff game, and the Pelicans advancing to the playoffs in the Western Conference and winning their first-round series in a 4-0 sweep against Portland.
"It's awesome," Lauscha said. "People forget - the No. 1 industry in New Orleans, or one of the biggest industries, is tourism. This is what we do, (and) we do a very good job with it. So it's great when we can showcase our city to the rest of the country. It's very important that we get the Super Bowl.
"This (would be) our 11th one, we know how to do it. We feel confident that we'll be able to deliver a really good Super Bowl experience not just for the league, but the fans, the sponsors and the community, as well."
