Meet Minneapolis, the city's convention and visitors bureau, is making a bid to host the 2012 Democratic National Convention, which is scheduled to begin on Sept. 3 of that year. The organization began working with city officials on its proposal in January.
"It would generate a tremendous amount of business for the city, and we feel this would continue to raise our national profile and open the door for us to get consideration for other major events," Meet Minneapolis President and CEO Melvin Tennant said.
Minneapolis' bid lists Target Center, the Metrodome, TCF Bank Stadium and the Minneapolis Convention Center as potential sites for the convention and related events.
"We don't want to presuppose anything," Tenant said. "We're giving them a number of options to consider.
St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center, which hosted the 2008 Republican National Convention, was not included in Minneapolis' bid.
As part of its bid, Meet Minneapolis has secured commitments from local hotels for more than 15,000 rooms during the convention, as required by the Democratic National Committee.
Thus far, most of the costs associated with Minneapolis' bid have been related to staff time, Tennant said, but the process will become more expensive if the city advances to the next round of the process this summer.
"We are willing to make the investment if we make it to the short list," he said.
Although it's not yet known which other cities are vying for the 2012 Democratic National Convention, some of the other cities expected to make bids include St. Louis, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Charlotte, N.C. (Last week, Tampa was selected to host the 2012 Republican National Convention.)
"We just have to play our game," Tennant said. "I think we have some really interesting advantages from having hosted a major convention before, as well as other major events, such as the Alcoholics Anonymous convention in 2000," an even that drew 50,000 attendees to the city, "We've hosted a Super Bowl and a Final Four. Not many cities have those credentials."
Minneapolis is playing up that experience in its bid, using the tagline: "Resourceful, Ready and Reliable."
Denver hosted the 2008 Democratic National Convention. The event attracted more than 50,000 visitors, generating an estimated economic impact of $266.1 million to Denver metro area.
The 2008 Republican National Convention, meanwhile, generated an estimated economic impact of $170 million, according to a study conducted by Dave Brennan, co director of the Institute for Retailing Excellence at the University of St. Thomas.
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