Stephen Holder

USA TODAY Sports

Colts owner Jim Irsay, who entered rehabilitation treatment after a DUI arrest in March, has been taking an active role in Indianapolis' 2018 Super Bowl bid and will be in Atlanta to make a presentation to NFL owners later this month.

The revelation came during a news conference this morning by the Indiana Sports Corp detailing the bid it submitted to the NFL this week.

Colts COO Pete Ward, who works closely with Irsay, said the owner has been and will continue to be an important part of the process. It's the biggest indication yet that Irsay is out of treatment and, perhaps, is resuming some of his responsibilities in running the team.

"Jim's planning on being at the meeting," Ward said of the owners meetings scheduled for May 19-21.

"Every owner of the franchises whose city is bidding has a chance to talk for five minutes, so he plans on talking to the ownership. He's very excited about the bid. . . He has become increasingly more active in terms of lobbying and just keeping tabs on how things are going."

Ward would not speak to Irsay's whereabouts or whether he has completed and departed the inpatient treatment facility he was at.

Irsay was arrested on March 17 in Carmel on preliminary charges of driving under the influence and four felony counts of possession of controlled substances. Police said pill bottles containing pills not associated with the pill bottles were found in the car.

Stephen Holder writes for the Indianapolis Star