The Super Bowl is coming back to the Big Easy.

After a six-month-long process, the city of New Orleans was awarded the 2013 Super Bowl, beating out the Phoenix and South Florida competition.

It wasn’t much of a surprise, since New Orleans was the heavy favorite. Nonetheless, on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in Lafayette Square, the New Orleans Saints will hold a pep rally to celebrate. Cheerleaders, coaches, administrators, the host committee and a few players will attend.

The final vote was at the NFL owners meeting Tuesday in Tampa, Fla. At a press conference announcing the decision on Tuesday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said: “We are thrilled and excited in the
NFL to say that Super Bowl XLVII will be played in the great city of New Orleans. I think this is a great statement about the spirit and people of New Orleans, and the great relationship the Saints and the
NFL have in that community. We’re thrilled to be coming back there and look forward to being there.”

After Goodell delivered the good news, the only thing left to do was celebrate. Sam Joffray, vice president of communications for the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation, which mounted the bid, said: “The bid team and community are flying really high right now and we saw this as a hat trick for the past year. We were awarded the 2012 Men’s and 2013 Women’s Final Four also. We’re extremely successful; we couldn’t ask for more.” But there is more: the game will be played in a renovated Superdome.

This is a colossal win for New Orleans, which last hosted the Super Bowl in 2002. It will be the 10th Super Bowl in the city of New Orleans, tying South Florida for the most hosted. And this will be the seventh that will be held in the Superdome; games in 1970, 1972 and 1975 were played in Tulane Stadium.

The Super Bowl is expected to bring in about $300 million.

“New Orleans provides an atmosphere that creates fantastic memories, and there is nothing like a Super Bowl to give a city the opportunity to show the world what it is capable of,” said Rita Benson LeBlanc, Saints owner and executive vice president, in a press release. “The NFL loves to come to our city for Super Bowls. And just by the way we entertain the world, there is a tremendous trickle-down effect economically – to our hotels, our restaurants, our vendors, all businesses. We will all benefit from today’s announcement.”

As part of the bid, the state legislature has pledged $85 million in upgrades and renovations for the Superdome, including additional seating, new suites and wider concourses.

The Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation, which now becomes the host committee, will start collaborating with the NFL to stage the big game, scheduled for Feb. 3, 2013. Everything from volunteers, fundraising, game day operations and media relations will start now.

In the presentation to NFL owners, Steve Perry, president of the New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau, said he touted the city’s advantages. “New Orleans has got some great assets, and you’ve always thought of three great assets for New Orleans as a Super Bowl City.

It’s the food, its music and nightlife, its architecture, but I’m here to tell you that the three greatest assets for New Orleans are proximity, proximity, proximity.”

The Super Bowl is coming back to the Big Easy

The Louisiana Superdome, seen here in a recent image, will host the 2013 Super Bowl in New Orleans. (Ray Tyler/New York Times Student Journalism Institute)