NFL picks Indianapolis as site for 2012 Super Bowl

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The National Football League on Tuesday said it chose Indianapolis to host the 2012 Super Bowl, the U.S. league's championship game and one of the most heavily viewed shows on U.S. television every year.

A year after coming up short in its bid to host the NFL's big game, Indianapolis beat out Houston and Arizona for its first Super Bowl. Many city and state officials believe the Super Bowl generates hundreds of millions of dollars for host cities by drawing tens of thousands of heavy-spending fans.

NFL team owners met on Tuesday in Atlanta to make the choice. They also voted to terminate early their current labor deal with the players union in a move to cut costs.

Organizers of the Indianapolis bid had emphasized the city's experience in hosting big events -- such as the NCAA Final Four college basketball tournament championship weekend and the Indianapolis 500 auto race -- as well as the compactness of downtown, allowing for easy access by pedestrian traffic.

The game will be played in Lucas Oil Stadium, a new $700 million facility scheduled to open in August that will seat about 73,000 for a Super Bowl.

According to ratings firm Nielsen Co, half of the 20 most watched TV shows in U.S. history have been Super Bowls.

Last year, the 2011 Super Bowl was awarded to North Texas -- the Dallas Cowboys play there in the Dallas suburb of Irving -- which edged Indianapolis in the final ballot. Arizona was also considered.

The NFL requires cities bidding for the Super Bowl to offer stadiums that seat 70,000 or more people, at least 27,000 hotel rooms within an hour's drive of the stadium, a media center for 4,000 journalists, practice facilities for both teams, and 800,000 to 1 million square feet of space for an interactive league theme park.

Arizona officials, in a study released last month, estimated Super Bowl XLII, played in the Cardinals' stadium in Glendale in February, generated almost $501 million in direct and indirect spending by visitors and organizations who came to the state for the game.