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Minneapolis Already Beginning Preparations For Super Bowl LII

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – The new Vikings stadium is expected to be finished in 16 months and while it seems like forever, it will be here before we know it.

Some of the work crews will be doing Monday will focus on clearing up a mess caused by strong winds over the weekend.

The wind knocked over scaffolding on the southeast side of the stadium site. Large pieces of metal blocked traffic on 5th Street. Police kept drivers away until workers could clean it up. Sources told WCCO that while it looked messy, it didn't cause any real damage.

As stadium construction continues, so does the planning for Super Bowl LII.

Last spring, Minnesota learned the big game will be in Minneapolis in 2018.

This year's Super Bowl was in Glendale, Ariz. It cost the state $5 million to host the game in Tempe back in 1996, $18 million in 2008 and roughly $30 million this year.

So how much will it cost Minnesota?

WCCO's Ali Lucia met with Maureen Bausch, CEO of the Super Bowl Host Committee 2018, the woman who has the answer.

With nearly 150,000 people expected to visit the Twin Cities for the Super Bowl, Bausch certainly has her hands full. The planning has really only just begun.

"It's an opportunity to use the platform that the Super Bowl provides to change, or to embellish or to complete the Minnesota story," Bausch said.

That's exactly how she is looking at her newest task.

"The Super Bowl is much more than a game," Bausch said.

The former Executive Vice President at the Mall of America left the behemoth mall for a whole new ball game.

"It uses every skill I have and probably some I don't know I have yet," Bausch said.

The women who started her career as an educator is now devising her lesson plan to make sure 2018 is a Minnesota memory no one will forget.

"You hope and pray for no snow," Bausch said. "But it really is a three-year marketing campaign for Minnesota."

The mother of three children said it's perfect timing for her to take on such a big and important commitment.

Bausch said the Super Bowl has come a long way since it was last in Minnesota. She said the big game won't just before business types.

"That's what's so beautiful about it. When I went to Arizona and I looked at the Super Bowl experience, the NFL experience, and their boulevard and Radio Row – that's all about families," she said.

As the countdown continues to 2018, Bausch is hopeful the biggest bowl of all will be one that everyone remembers not for the game, but for getting Minnesota noticed around the globe.

"You can host the Super Bowl or you can use the Super Bowl as a platform, and we've committed to use it as a platform to grow this state," Bausch said.

So how big is Bausch's party planning budget?

Bausch told WCCO that has yet to be determined.  She is working on the businesses plan which she hopes will lead to executing and impeccable event.

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