Anti-Indy sentiment persists

There are still plenty of people in NFL circles who think Indianapolis is no place for a Super Bowl. And yes, some of those are among the 32 team owners and other team executives. Indianapolis remains a favorite today to win the bid for the 2012 Super Bowl, but people inside and outside the league haven’t stopped taking shots at our beloved Circle City this week in Atlanta.

The latest shrapnel comes from a prominent Atlanta Journal-Constitution sports columnist whose parents are Hoosiers. Terence Moore wrote a column on the J-C’s front page of the sports section today, saying Indianapolis is too cold and local leaders don’t know enough about conducting business as a resort destination.

Notably, Moore is bitter because Atlanta has been rebuffed in its last several attempts to host the Super Bowl. When the Peachtree City hosted the big game in 2000, the city was plagued by an ice storm that still has the owners shivering. Falcons owner Arthur Blank declined to say yesterday that a vote for Indianapolis is a vote against Atlanta. But that rumbling has made its way through NFL’s inner circles.

Moore goes on to write that the only way Indianapolis deserves the 2012 Super Bowl is if the city relocates to California, Texas, Louisiana or Florida.

“… but if it is Indianapolis, Moore wrote, “it would be because Indianapolis is having a brand new stadium built, and also because 95 percent of it is paid for by the public.”

Mark Miles and the rest of the Indianapolis leaders here to make a pitch this afternoon to host the Super Bowl, might beg to differ.