Do You Think It Is A Coincidence?

[Mike]

I strongly believe that the NFL want the SB to be played at a Neutral Site. In fact, no team has ever played the SB on their home turf. Historically, most SB have been played in warmer weather climates, and during the SBs early and mid years many of the corresponding teams were never a threat to play the SB at their home stadiums. However, now with a FA and a salary cap, any team can go making this a very legitimate concern. To add fuel to the fire, many of these teams which play in the warmer climates -who were once abysmal- are now very talented: San Diego, New Orleans, etc...

Check out the the Last Few Sites and What has happened to Hosting Team:

2013: Supper Bowl in New Orleans, Louisiana: Saints scandals & suspensions & loss of draft picks ( before all of this Saints were picked by many to go to SB)

2012: Super Bowl in Indianapolis, Indiana: Colts loose Manning for season and end up 2-14 which leads to drafting best QB since Manning. (Colts were picked by many to go to SB in 2011-12, some calling for them to be first home team to do so)

2011: Super Bowl in Arlington, Texas: Romo gets injured and Cowboys finish 6-10 after being a contender who finished 11-5 the year before.

This is a more recent Phenomena as Good Teams are getting super bowls in their stadiums. Lets look at next few destinations:

2013: New Orleans, LA - we already saw what has happened to saints.
2014: East Rutherford, NJ - will Jets & Giants suck?
2015: Glendale, AZ - what if the Cards make another push like they did in their previous SB appearance 1 year after hosting a SB?

* I am confident that the NFL is not manipulating situations in order to make the SB a fair game -ie no home teams; however there is an air of inevitability. Unless something is done, a team or two will play the SB at home.

[buffalobillsfan95]

Re: Do You Think It Is A Coincidence?

I do also think its odd, however; only 2 out of the 32 teams acctually make it. Usually the best team doesn't win the super bowl. Any team can win any game. Also injury is a given in the nfl. Every team gets them, some Just loose more.

[Joe Fo Sho]

Re: Do You Think It Is A Coincidence?

If they really want to guarantee a neutral site, just play the Superbowl in Miami every year.

[BLeonard]

Re: Do You Think It Is A Coincidence?

The thing is, are there any stadiums in existance that would be able to host a Super Bowl that aren't homes to current NFL teams? The Rose Bowl has been used in the past, but the last time was Super Bowl XXVII... I don't think it would be a good enough site to host one today. The Super Bowl almost HAS to be played at a venue currently used by an NFL team.

That being said, with the way Super Bowl tickets are distributed these days, I don't see it being a real "homefield advantage" for a team, even if they were to have the Super Bowl in their venue. Let's face it, most of the seats are reserved well in advance for the NFL bigwigs, celebrities, etc. Only a certain percentage is made available to fans of the teams playing and I'm pretty sure that each team would be allotted the same amount of tickets.

Finally, NFL fields aren't like baseball, where they play differently and the dimensions can make a difference strategically. I guess you could argue grass vs turf, but with all the synthetic grass in stadiums now, there isn't nearly as big of a differene there as there used to be and even then, I don't know that it would be enough to affect the results of the game.

There's no doubt that a team could play a Super Bowl in it's home stadium, but I don't think that it would be as big of an advantage as the media would hype it up to be. In fact, the pressure on the "home team" to win would likely be greater than any advantage gained.

-Bill

[Figster]

Re: Do You Think It Is A Coincidence?

Myself personally, its better the revenue created is spread out to as many Cities as possible, and If the Bills would get smart and build a Dome Stadium we could have a Superbowl one day in our neck of the woods.

The way ticket sales are bought up for the Superbowl, I'm not so sure it becomes such a huge factor, If by slim chance it ever does happen, and If it ever did, the team got really lucky.


You still have to go out there and win the game, and If its a team like the G-men coming to town, it doesn't really matter.

[Oaf]

Re: Do You Think It Is A Coincidence?

Never thought of this. Interesting post.

[Prov401]

Re: Do You Think It Is A Coincidence?

I think the Saints are going to play hard this year. A chip on the shoulder, something to prove type thing. I wouldn't sleep on them at all.

[Mike]

Re: Do You Think It Is A Coincidence?

If they really want to guarantee a neutral site, just play the Superbowl in Miami every year.

LOL

[PTI]

Re: Do You Think It Is A Coincidence?

No local fans attend anyway, these tickets are hardly even open to the public, this is not a good conspiracy, it is not close to the truth.

[HAMMER]

Re: Do You Think It Is A Coincidence?

The Super Bowl should be rotated between five sites in top weather cities only. Who the hell wants to spend 5K or more to go to Buffalo or Detroit in February?

[DrGraves]

Re: Do You Think It Is A Coincidence?

Even if Buffalo had a dome of some sorts, I really don't think the city could handle all of the media and people that come with hosting the superbowl in terms of hotels, etc.

[imbondz]

Re: Do You Think It Is A Coincidence?

Usually the best team doesn't win the super bowl.

I don't agree with that. Usually the best NFL team wins the SB. Every few years a second best team wins.

[Mudflap1]

Re: Do You Think It Is A Coincidence?

The 1980 Super Bowl was played at the Pasadena Rose Bowl between the Steelers and Rams. The Rams didn't play their home games in the Rose Bowl at that time, but played at the Coliseum. That said, the Coliseum is only about 15 miles away from the Rose Bowl. That didn't influence the outcome of the game, Steelers still won.

If the Super Bowl was played at a site where the home team happened to make it, I don't think it would make that much of a difference, given the choices where the Super Bowl is usually played. The Super Bowl is mostly made up of corporate execs with some fans that make the trek. If the game was in Arizona and the Cardinals made it playing, say, the Steelers, you can bet there would certainly be a ton of Steelers fans at that game. Maybe more Cardinals fans than a neutral site, but it wouldn't be a true "home game".

Jon

[thenry20]

Re: Do You Think It Is A Coincidence?

Here is my solution: if everybody cared about playin the SB in a completely neutral site why not make the PB relevant again, kinda since its going be discontinued.

Play the game in Hawaii if everyone only cares about temperate weather.