INDIANAPOLIS – New England Patriots fan Steve Craffey has been impressed by Indianapolis as a Super Bowl host city so far – especially how doggone nice everyone is.
“I have to tell you if the roles were reversed and the Colts were playing in Foxborough, I would not be this nice,” he laughed.
The resident of Cape Cod, Mass., is headed to the game with longtime friend and fraternity brother Michael Langlois of Cromwell, Conn.
“It’s amazing. You can spend the entire day just walking around and drinking it up,” he said of the downtown atmosphere.
In comparison, when Langlois attended the 2008 Super Bowl in Arizona he said the stadium was in one spot with nothing else around.
Craffey and Langlois were enjoying the NFL Experience downtown Saturday morning after a great reception at their airport hotel Friday night.
They are just two out-of-towners giving Indianapolis rave reviews – even with some chilly weather.
It starts with the Hoosier hospitality Craffey speaks of. An example: Every Super Bowl worker or volunteer says “have a super day” after answering tourist questions. And the visitors love the compactness and walkability of downtown.
Mike Meyers of Seattle said he attended the 2005 Super Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla., and visitors had to cross a river and drive a long time to get to anything.
Meyers is going to the big game with his mom, Toni Meyers. Both lived on the East Coast years back and are big Patriots fans.
They are staying near the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and have plans to attend a Patriots bash at a local Italian restaurant.
They aren’t having a problem so far with the weather, which last week was been unseasonably warm and dry. A little rain fell downtown Saturday morning, but Toni Meyers said “it’s Seattle weather. We’re used to it.”
They and thousands of others were enjoying the interactive NFL theme park at the Indiana Convention Center.
Inside the NFL Experience, you can get a free picture with the famed Lombardi Trophy; check out Super Bowl rings; see how an NFL football is made; get a glimpse into real pro football lockers; try your hand at football announcing; and learn officiating signals. Then there are the autographs, hands-on football clinics and more.
There had been some worries about hotel gouging given Indianapolis’ smaller-than-average pool of rooms.
But Tom Fair, in from New York with his wife and three children, said he doesn’t think the prices are worse than any other Super Bowl.
The family bought a package that included hotels, game tickets and airfare with a large group of traveling Giants fans. He remembers checking the price for the same package in 2008 and it was about the same four years later for Indianapolis.
“Everybody paid a fortune,” he said. “But it’s the Super Bowl. That’s just the way it is.”
The Fair family, decked out in Giants gear, drove from their Lafayette hotel Saturday morning and said they were ready to spend the whole day sightseeing.
“We plan to wear ourselves out,” he said.
Mary Ludwig, a Green Bay Packers fan visiting friends who live in Indy, was doing the same thing. Originally she had hoped the Packers would be in the Super Bowl. Still, the Ludwig family decided to come for the atmosphere anyway.
“It is very well-organized,” the Appleton, Wis., woman said. “The city is doing a great job.”
One minor complaint is that it’s hard to find food, she said, noting the line around the corner Friday night to get into Steak ’n Shake. And some restaurants have been booked with reservations for months.
“Every place is busy; they should have a few more food vendors,” Ludwig said.
Friday night brought the first significant problems to the Indianapolis Super Bowl – overcrowding.
The Super Bowl Host Committee estimated 200,000 people were in the three-block Super Bowl Village along Georgia Street on Friday night, many to see the LMFAO concert.
Video from the night show people shuffling shoulder-to-shoulder, and police eventually had to shut down some roads to divert pedestrian traffic.
About a dozen people were injured, and police were preparing to limit entry into the area Saturday night.
