Excerpts from the story:
The Motor City is determined to show visitors a good time at Super Bowl 40 with a 60-metre-long snow slide, sled dogs, ice skating and Midwestern hospitality.
Besides having a nice stadium, Detroit landed the 2006 Super Bowl in part because of the money and power of Ford, General Motors Corp. and DaimlerChrysler AG.
When Detroit made its presentation to the NFL in 2000, each owner received a black plaque with three miniature cars: a red Corvette, a silver PT Cruiser and a yellow Thunderbird, representing each of the traditional Big Three automakers.
While the Super Bowl inside the stadium will be the focus on Feb. 5, what happens outside its doors in the week leading up to the game is perhaps more important to Detroit.
Since the city was awarded the most-hyped annual sporting event in the world, massive changes have taken place, including:
-Compuware Corp. moved from the suburbs to downtown in a spectacular, 15-storey, $350-million building that attracted a Hard Rock Cafe, a Borders bookstore, a FedEx Kinko's and a Ben & Jerry's ice cream shop and looms over Campus Martius Park, where some will ice skate before the Super Bowl.
-GM completed an overhaul of the Renaissance Center skyscrapers along the redeveloped Detroit River riverfront, which separates the United States from Canada.
-Abandoned buildings are being converted into loft apartments and office space along Woodward Avenue and in other pockets of the city.
"We have an opportunity to show the world that this is a much different place than it was in 1982, the last time we hosted the Super Bowl," said Penske, a racing legend who made his fortune in the automobile industry. "A renaissance is taking place in what was a decaying inner city, and I can't wait for the world to see the new Detroit."
- Read the full story at: Canadian Press
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