Published: May 22, 2008 12:30 am            

Indy, Dungy ‘basking in sunshine’ after landing Super Bowl

INDIANAPOLIS — It certainly didn’t take Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy very long to find out the reaction of fans to the news that Lucas Oil Stadium will be the site of Super Bowl XLVI.

Dungy was a member of the official presentation group that traveled to Atlanta Tuesday to the final vote and subsequent announcement by National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell. Unlike last year’s unsuccessful bid to host the 2011 Super Bowl, where the veteran coach was one of the primary speakers, Dungy took more of a supporting role this time around.

Still, traveling back Tuesday night, the emotions of everybody involved in the city’s bid presentation mirrored what he saw and heard when the group landed at Indianapolis International Airport.

“Very, very exciting. I was part of the group that was presenting last year and I got to see first hand all the work that went into it. And the work that group did, I think this year’s committee built on that. And to see it come to fruition for the city, for Jim Irsay, just for everyone involved and the people that are in the process of constructing [the stadium] now, the people that are doing the work on it, it was just a thrill to see it all come together,” said Dungy, during a break from the second day of organized team activity workouts Wednesday.

“I thought our group did a great job in representing the city really well. [The reaction of fans] was pretty good. I came back on the first plane and even by the time we landed, people knew [that Indianapolis got the Super Bowl bid]. You could kind of sense the buzz, everybody just kind of basking in the sunshine a little bit.”

• Correction — The NFC practice site will be built on the campus of Indianapolis Tech High School, not Howe High School as was initially reported.

A $9 million indoor practice facility will be built at Tech and will then be given to the school after the Super Bowl in 2012. The artificial turf from the practice site will be removed and reinstalled on the school’s outdoor football field.

Youth groups from the east side of Indianapolis are slated to use the building as an activity center for both athletics and non-athletics events.

• Workouts in full swing — Two organized team activity practices are now in the books for the Colts. After a workout today, players and coaches will be given the rest of the Memorial Day weekend off.

Three more practices are set for next week, with four practices on the schedule for the final two weeks of organized team activities (OTA’s). The workouts, which are closed to the public, are set to wrap up on June 12.

“We’re really kind of breaking [the OTA practices] down this year,” Dungy said. “We’ve got a week of individual fundamentals, really fundamental work, and then next week will be team work. And so we’ll alternate for the next four weeks and try to get the best of both worlds.

“Get a week where we really concentrate on the rookies and the young guys. And then a week of building that chemistry. So we’re going to alternate, but I think it’s going to work out well for us.”

While the practices are strictly voluntary, the Colts have had a good history in past years of having strong participation from most of the team’s veteran players.

“This week we’ve had different groups going. Veterans going at different times than the rookies so the coaches can spend a little more time with the young guys individually,” Dungy said. “But we’ve had a lot of guys here and we’re making good progress. Next week we’ll have the whole group together at the same time. My sense is that we’ll have everybody here throughout the four weeks like we have in the past.”

        

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