With the NFL determined to stage Super Bowl 48 outdoors, league officials in conjunction with local and state officials are making tentative plans—just in case.
When Super Bowl 47 kicked off, it was a climate-controlled 70 degrees in the Superdome. At that same moment, it was 23 degrees at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell earned a reported $21 million dollars last year. Rumor has it that he would have made more except for his decision to play the Super Bowl outdoors. The billionaire owners apparently do not like cold weather.
Backup Plans
According to a report in Sports Business Daily, the NFL has prepared a “comprehensive contingency plan” in case the outdoor, first ever cold-weather Super Bowl is faced with a weather emergency. If such an event, like a blizzard, were to happen, the league could delay the game several days or play it on Saturday, February 1, if the threat of a storm were to hit the next day.
Betting on the 2014 Super Bowl could be problematic. Do the online sportsbooks adjust if a game is moved by a day, a few days or even a week? Will the quality of the event be affected? What about the halftime show? I mean, can you imagine Rihanna performing in a parka?
Additional Problems
The NFL will not eliminate the possibility of rescheduling its billion-dollar extravaganza in the name of safety, and could choose to play the game Saturday if a significant snowstorm is expected Super Bowl Sunday. There’s a fair chance the game could be moved back a day to Monday.
Complications involved with changing the game date as a reactionary response to the weather forecast are several. The NFL has weighed how to tell fans holding tickets to the game of possible delays that might not be known until the week of the game, when travel arrangements, including flights and hotel accommodations, have long been set.
Potential Betting Issues
Out of the Top 10 teams favored to win next year’s game, five of them, the Broncos, Patriots, Packers, Ravens and Steelers can be described as ‘cold-weather’ teams. However the Saints and Falcons play in dome stadiums while the Texans have a retractable roof. Both the 49ers and Seahawks are on the West Coast where there is a potential for rain but rarely is there snow.
What should the wagering strategy be for NFL fans? Buy futures on all the cold-weather teams and ignore those who rarely play in the wet stuff? The NFL will count its blessings if all it gets is cold weather.
Odds to win the 2014 Super Bowl XLVIII:
Denver Broncos 7/1
San Francisco 49ers 7/1
New England Patriots 15/2
Green Bay Packers 10/2
Seattle Seahawks 12/1
Baltimore Ravens 14/1
New Orleans Saints 14/1
Atlanta Falcons 16/1
Houston Texans 16/1
Pittsburgh Steelers 18/1
The two hosting teams are longshots. The Giants are 20/1 while the Jets are 40/1.