NFL Combine a valued Indy event

The NFL Combine is closed to the public, yet it attracts nationwide attention and brings millions of dollars to the city. The event will be held at Lucas Oil Stadium for the very first time.

Once a quiet event, the combine is now big business. The city's contract to host it has one year left.

Lucas Oil is a new, larger venue for the combine that has called Indianapolis home every year since 1987. It brings with it two very important items: money (about $5 million according to the convention and visitors association) and publicity.

"The Indianapolis dateline will be throughout America this week because every major media outlet in the country will be here," said Bill Benner of the ICVA.

Doug Allison is the general manager of the Crowne Plaza Hotel at Union Station downtown.

"Februarys typically aren't the busiest months in the hotel business. So it's a very nice piece of business to have this time of year," said Allison. "They take every, basically every, square inch of the hotel except for certain areas of the lobby -- and our lounge is open to the public."

The now-demolished Hoosier Dome is actually what drew the NFL Combine to Indianapolis in the first place.

"Because of the way it positioned the Dome right downtown, it became perfect. It offered all the space to do the many, many medical tests," said Benner.

Indianapolis has the contract to host the combine through 2010. Negotiations beyond that are under way right now. Other cities are interested in getting the event but Indianapolis is counting on its years of experience and its relationship with the NFL to make sure it wins again.

There is one other advantage for Indianapolis in its bid to keep hosting the combine. National Football Scouting, the coordinating sponsor of the event, is headquartered in the Pan Am Plaza building downtown.