Bowling in the Big Apple Is a Bad Idea

The New Meadowlands Stadium is gorgeous, but it won't be pretty in February.

In New York,
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of,
There’s nothing you can’t do,
Now you’re in New York,
these streets will make you feel brand new,
the lights will inspire you,
lets here it for New York, New York, New York

-         Alicia Keys, from Jay-Z’s Empire State of Mind

Just like Alicia Keys sings, New York is the place where dreams are made of, and tomorrow when the NFL owners gather in Dallas, the Giants and Jets owners are almost a lock to finally make theirs of becoming the first city to host an outdoor cold weather Super Bowl come true. There are a few reasons why they will set a new precedent for the league, but none is more prominent than the simple fact that it is what Roger Goodell wants, and what Roger Goodell wants, Roger Goodell gets. He wasn’t named the Most Powerful Man in Sports for nothing.

Goodell has been trying to tap into as many markets as he can to spread the great game that he heads, so why wouldn’t he want to put the biggest game in American sports in America’s biggest market? It makes all the business sense in the world, until you really think about it and then it doesn’t. It’s a terrific idea in theory, but a terrible one in practice.

I completely understand where Goodell is coming from. New York is the biggest city in the country and those in the tri-state area love their football. New York is a tourist trap too. It doesn’t matter what the weather is, whether it’s 100 degrees and muggy as hell or barely above freezing and raining, people from all over the world come to catch a glimpse of the hundreds of sights located in the five boroughs. The Super Bowl is one of the biggest events not only on the sports calendar, but in America period. Showcasing it in a setting like New York is perfect….if New York was somehow in Florida or Texas or California. But its not, it’s in the Northeast corridor and anyone who lives in that section of the country like I do can attest to what February is like, especially this year when we got ravaged by almost three feet of snow in less than two weeks.

I don’t care how well they prepare for it and how many hand warmers they give out to the people attending the game; it will still be an extremely uncomfortable experience. I don’t care how big of a fan you are, nobody enjoys sitting in frigid temperatures to watch a football game. And if die-hard fans prefer to watch their team in 70-degree weather, how do you think the corporate executives who make up the majority of the Super Bowl’s audience feel? These people only go to the game for the experience and the status of saying they were there; they couldn’t care less about the game or its outcome. The NFL has catered to these suits for so long I am actually shocked they would force their beloved revenue stream to sit outside and have them freeze their golden assets off.

The actual game would suffer too. I love football in the elements just as much, if not more, than the next guy. To me there is nothing more entertaining than watching a game in the snow. It is how football was meant to be played. Baseball calls games for rain; football plays through everything but lightning. But I love it…on TV. With the game’s biggest prize on the line the weather should be as minimal a factor as possible. That has become even more important in today’s game where quarterbacks are the stars and chicks dig the long ball. The NFL is a passing league. The Meadowlands in winter is death to the passing game. It doesn’t add up. Can you imagine if Drew Brees and Peyton Manning were forced to play last February’s game in 40 mile an hour winds? It would have been a travesty and would have robbed fans of seeing the two best quarterbacks in the game duke it out.

But forget the actual game. The Super Bowl is so much more than the game. The Super Bowl is about the week leading up to the game where the league throws parties all over town and holds a carnival in the parking lot and their sponsors sponsor everything sponsorable in the entire city. Who wants to take their kids to the NFL Experience fair in the Meadowlands parking lot in February? I sure as hell don’t. Who wants to wait outside for a few hours to get into a party while your snot is frozen to your nose? Yup, me neither. I know the Super Bowl has been in cold weather cities before, but ones who had domes. Those weren’t as successful as they could have been either for the reasons I have just mentioned. The people who flocked to Detroit for the game a few years ago regretted they even came before Sunday, or at least it seemed that way since none of them were out and about the city in the week leading up to the game. The weather simply killed the experience, so why does Goodell think just because it’s in New York it’s going to be any different? Because people go to the Statue of Liberty in January? I’m not buying it.

But to me the biggest reason this isn’t a good idea is because now no city is off-limits. It used to be only warm weather cities or stadiums with a roof got the game. But once New York gets it all bets are off. Every team will feel entitled to the game. All they’ll feel they need is a new stadium and voila, the game is theirs. There will be no restrictions. But why even need a new stadium? Hell, Lambeau field is the most historic and legendary stadium in the league so why not have the game there? If Goodell puts the game in New York and then refuses the next cold weather city with a new stadium it will open Pandora’s Box, and that is never a good thing. What if Cleveland builds a new stadium? The thought makes me shudder.

I know that weather plays a part in football games and it should. Let the weather affect every game leading up to the Super Bowl, just don’t include it. Bad weather games are what the sport is all about. Let the weather affect all of the games leading up to it. Those are great. But the Super Bowl is more than a game and it deserves better than to end up in Cleveland.