At 4 p.m. on Tuesday the NFL Network will broadcast live from Irving, Texas the announcement about what region of the country will get to host 2014 – New York/New Jersey, Tampa, or Miami.
Or, excuse me, "South Florida," as the NFL advertises Miami, so as to make the folks in Palm Beach and Broward Counties feel like part of the party.
Unless you are new to this story, you know that staging the game at New Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey is the overwhelming favorite, despite the fact that it will be the first time in Super Bowl history where the game will be played in an environment that going into it will be a cold environment (the coldest Super Bowl was played in 43 degrees in 1972 in New Orleans).
The Commish, Roger Goodell, has let everyone in the western world know that having NY/NJ get the big game for the first time ever is his desire, and he has the most clout of anybody in the NFL.
At least four NFL owners say they will vote for NY (New England's Robert Kraft, Minnesota's Zygi Wilf, Atlanta's Arthur Blank and Washington's Daniel Snyder), but others, like Cincinnati's Mike Brown, says they won't vote for an open air stadium in the northeast.
Miami is considered to not have much of a chance because they haven't made repairs to Sun Life Stadium (don't worry if you've never heard of it – it's gone under five other monikers before its current iteration). That leaves Tampa, and Raymond James Stadium, which hosted the big game just 15 months, as perhaps the only place where the NFL can still save itself before putting on a potential disaster in 2014.
This article appears in May 20-26, 2010.