Super Bowl In 2014: Getting Back To The Game

Source: Yardbarker

I’m already looking forward to the 2014 Super Bowl. I don’t plan to go to the game, but if I had tickets, I’d gladly take a seat on a plastic chair possibly covered in snow and embrace the 15 degree temperatures.

For the first time in history, the Super Bowl will take place in a cold weather city in a stadium that does not have a dome.

I’m sure that people will miss the Florida beaches and flip flop wearing weather, but the biggest sporting event will take place on the nation’s biggest stage, or at least right next door to it. East Rutherford, NJ is just a few miles west of the Hudson River and overlooks one of the world’s most recognizable skylines – New York City.

The New Stadium at the Meadowlands is set to open this year. I went to the Meadowlands in 2005 for a Giants vs. Chiefs game in December. I felt like I was home not only because I was rooting against the Chiefs, but because the winter weather reminded me of a home game at Invesco.

Many people balk at the fact that there’s a good chance for the weather to determine the outcome of the game (i.e. a botched snap during a field goal attempt at the end of the game), or “even worse” cause a low scoring game.

Who cares? Hell won’t freeze over. Bringing the championship game to a cold weather city will bring back the significance of the game itself.

I look at it like this – less than half of the league’s teams (approximately 40%) play in a dome or have no need for one. Even so, when these teams have away games, they have a good shot at playing in a frigid open air stadium with or without snow in November and December. Even post season play may occur in a stadium without a dome. If teams have had to battle the so called elements throughout the regular season and playoffs, why should they get a break in the Super Bowl?

So what if the Super Bowl is low scoring due to the weather? Sure, it doesn’t appeal to the mass audience, but then again, most beer guzzling  wine sipping spectators haven’t been following league action since week one. They pull up a seat during the commercials and then head for the food spread when the game resumes, so there’s no need to cater to these folks by promising a high scoring game. Related to that, hosting the game in New Jersey could keep those same people out of the seats at the game. While it may still cost $1,000 per ticket to sit in the nose bleeds, the crowd at the game will be a more authentic, football loving crowd – one you might see in a conference championship game.

As for the real die hard football fans, you wouldn’t mind seeing more run plays than pass plays would you? In the regular season, teams need to adjust their game to the elements on the field anyway.

If this cold weather game doesn’t work out, it’s no big deal. This is a trial year and I’m sure both teams that make it to the Super Bowl will be happy to be there and won’t be complaining about the weather. After all, both teams will be playing in the same conditions. If these teams resent the league’s decision to play in a stadium without a dome, they probably aren’t strong enough to be there in the first place.

It would be great if the game was rotated to all 32 cities. What an impact on the local economy the game would have.

With that said, Denver in 2018? Call it the Snowper Bowl and give John Elway the coin toss. I’m all in!