National Football League

Report: NFL made many demands before awarding Minnesota '18 Super Bowl

Published Jun. 8, 2014 5:14 p.m. ET

Sid Saraf

Minnesota did its share of backflips when the NFL awarded the city the 2018 Super Bowl. Good times were had by all.

However, don't think that prize came without a price tag. In fact, the NFL had a laundry list of requests thrown at Minnesota before handing the game over to them.

The Star-Tribune obtained a copy of the 153-page confidential document detailing all the specifications from the league for the Super Bowl host city. Let's run down some of the reported highlights:

1. Free police escorts for team owners.

2. Free presidential suites in luxury hotels.

3. Free billboards promoting the game througout Minneapolis and St. Paul.

4. A requirement for "NFL-preferred ATMs" throughout the venue.

5. Free portable cell phone towers if the signal strength isn't strong enough at hotels.

6. 35,000 free parking spaces.

8. A stipulation that hotels housing the teams "should be obligated to televise the NFL Network for a year before the Super Bowl — at no cost to the league."

There's a lot more in the document, but are you noticing the trend here? The NFL reportedly wants a lot of stuff ... and apparently doesn't want to pay anything to get it.

The document hasn't been released publicly. The Star-Tribune says the hosting panel told the paper that "while the Minnesota Super Bowl Bid Committee did not agree to all of the NFL's Super Bowl bid specifications, the competitive bid remains private."

Minneapolis City Council President Barb Johnson said "incentives" were necessary in order to land the Super Bowl. However, Mayor Betsy Hodges' office did not know what the host committee agreed to provide the NFL.

"We haven't seen the bid, so we don't know what was agreed to," said Hodges spokeswoman Kate Brickman.

You can check out the entire document right here.