Once again, we find ourselves at that special time of year filled with disavowed New Year’s resolutions, standing in the face of the encroaching culmination of Super Bowl LIX, and where is this year’s “Big Game” being held? That’s right: in the heart of Cajun country, New Orleans, Louisiana. The home of Creole, beignets, and the NFL’s own Saints. This year will mark a historic achievement for the city of New Orleans as it will be the 11th time hosting the Super Bowl, tying the only other city in the country to have hosted the Super Bowl ten times or more, Miami. This historic notch in the belt left this writer wondering, does the NFL even attempt to hide their bias at all in selecting a host for the biggest game of the year? The answer to that is a whopping no.
For years it has been the stance of the commissioner’s office and the commissioner himself that a number of factors go into the process of selecting a host. While there is a great deal of sensibility to some of the factors listed in this selection process, there are a few that are downright asinine, and insulting to fanbases. For decades, it has been known that were a few nasty little truths that would instantly eliminate a stadium and fanbase from receiving the opportunity to host the Super Bowl. No cold weather stadiums, a glaring fact reflected by previous host cities. A hurdle often too great even for a city like the Big Apple, the lone Super Bowl to be played in New York (East Rutherford, NJ) coming in 2014, and a state that three NFL teams technically call home. This would be the only time a Super Bowl would be played in an open-air stadium in a cold weather state, with the only other trips up north for the Super Bowl being in domed stadiums in Detroit and Minneapolis.
It has been Commissioner Goodell’s stance that on-the-field play and the manner a team represents the NFL is a factor in the decision process. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the New Orleans Saints. A team infamously known for their tenuous past, needing twenty-one seasons to mark the first winning season in the franchise’s history, and it’s the same organization who in recent years saw their Head Coach suspended for a full season for incentivizing players to injury opponents on the field (Bounty Gate). The Saints boast a wonderful 10-13 playoff all-time playoff record; acquiring three of those wins in the magical Super Bowl run of 2009. It is painfully obvious that matters such as on-the-field play are simply excuses for the Commissioner’s office to use in this farce of a selection process.
Simply peruse over a list of Super Bowl locations and you will quickly see a pattern emerge from the data. Warm coastal areas and the farthest southern tips of the country. There have only been six instances of a host city that did not fit these criteria in the NFL’s history, the above mentioned cold weather states, and raises questions about the true factors in selecting a city to host the Super Bowl. Over the decades the Super Bowl has evolved into a week-long event, transforming the city into the sports Mecca of North America for seven days, drawing not only media from all over the world, but fans as well.
Data from the past decade has also brought to light to the possibility of an extremely disturbing trend that has preceded and followed in the wake of the Super Bowl. Rumors and conspiracies have been whispered for years, citing the possibility of the Super Bowl being a targeted event by human sex traffickers. Studies conducted by universities produced inconclusive results to what if any effect the Super Bowl has on crime rates within a host city during the mid-2010’s. It is quite possible that the NFL finds itself a victim to its own glutenous hedonism, consumed by desires of profits, and the all-mighty dollar. An unintended victim of a much greater criminal plague that is victimizing woman, men, and children all across this country and abroad. Year after year, in the weeks surrounding the Super Bowl, we receive reports from law enforcement agencies, operations by joint-task forces of local and federal departments, and the resulting arrests made.
Since the turn of the century, almost half of the Super Bowls played were in three locations, Florida, California, and New Orleans. Can you guess where the next two Super Bowls will be played? That’s right, Levi’s Stadium, where the San Francisco 49ers play, and SoFi Stadium, the home of the LA Rams. Not leaving the state of California for at least two years. The geographical exclusivity of such a pattern makes even the idea of attending the Super Bowl a daunting challenge. That is if you are fortunate enough to not be detoured by the hefty price tag for everything from your tickets, hotel, travel, food, entertainment, any and all, and likely spending a small fortune in the process.
A question I have to ask myself is, how many fans actually carry a desire to attend a Super Bowl once in their life? Unlike the other professional sports in this country, the NFL is the only league where the championship is not decided on the home field of the teams playing. You might say this acts as a disservice to the fans. Take a look at the remaining four teams in the playoffs this season, Buffalo, Philadelphia, Kansas City, and Washington. Their reward for their team reaching the Super Bowl is watching them on TV. As it pertains to the matter of attending a Super Bowl, the idea feels rather hollow, an unobtainable feat that most fans dismiss without much thought, and I wonder if this occurs in the other sports across America? Does accessibility weigh that heavily on a fan’s desire to be in the stands during championship action unfolding before them? Long gone are the days of the NFL being a dwindling organization struggling to survive, now a titan squeezing every last little drop from us consumers called fans.
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