Cold Weather Super Bowl a 'WIN' for the NFL

The recent decision by NFL owners has stirred conversation all over the country. Some fans and players are all for a Super Bowl being played in a ‘cold weather’ city, while others have showed their displeasure with the announcement. Here is why playing the Super Bowl in East Rutherford is a WIN for the league.

First, we begin by sorting out every NFL team into one of two categories: cold weather & warm weather. In this case, a ‘cold weather’ team is a team located in a city that has an average February temperature of less than 50°F. This temperature is the cut-off based on the NFLs’ ‘50 degree rule’.

Of the 31 teams in the NFL, 22 are located in a cold weather city, while nine teams are warm weather cities. To be fair, six of the cold weather teams have dome or retractable room stadiums (Colts, Lions, Vikings, Falcons, Cowboys and Rams). This brings us to 16 cold weather teams and 15 warm weather teams or teams with a dome or retractable roof.

In the last 10 years, 16 of the 20 Super Bowl teams hail from cold weather cities…four of which have domes or retractable roofs. Super Bowl XXXVII was the only time in that span two teams from warm weather cities met (Raiders vs. Buccaneers). Two teams with a dome or retractable roof (Colts vs. Saints) met for the first time in a Super Bowl in the 2009-2010 season. This leaves us with 12 of the last 20 Super Bowl contenders that play in cold weather cities with open stadiums. Some will argue this is an advantage, I couldn’t agree more. However, isn’t playing in a dome or retractable roof an advantage as well? Sure, the ball is not cold, field conditions are good and it’s not freezing cold, but does looking up towards to roof take any getting used to?

I don’t understand why cold weather teams can host all through the playoffs, except for the Super Bowl. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it doesn’t get that much colder in these cities from the January Conference Championship game to the Super Bowl….does it? I was born and raised in Nebraska. The best time of the year is September/October when the temperature begins to drop, leaves begin to fall and its time to dig out the long sleeves and long John’s…..it means there is football in the air.

The recent announcement of the 2014 Super Bowl being played at the New Meadowlands Stadium is a win for cold weather teams. The teams have long fielded some of the best teams in the League, but have not had the opportunity to play for the championship at home….others have. It is a win for the cities as well. Not only do some of these cities have passionate fans, but they are home to some of the best teams. They haven’t had the chance to cash in on revenue from hosting a Super Bowl. This will change…well for at least one year. It is unclear if other cold weather teams without a dome or retractable roof will have a chance to host a Super Bowl.

Some arguments have been made that the fans cannot enjoy the Super Bowl as much if it is in a cold weather city. Have you seen New England, New York (Giants or Jets), Denver, Kansas City, Philadelphia and others play in November, December and January? Some fans show up in sub-freezing temperatures with no shirts to cheer on their teams. If fans of the Dolphins, Raiders, Chargers, Saints, etc. don’t want to attend a Super Bowl to cheer on their team because it is cold then so be it. I am willing to bet if the game is played in Denver and the Broncos have been eliminated fans in the surrounding area would still love to take in the chance to watch a Super Bowl.

Average temperature should not be a deciding factor for the Super Bowl. The NFL has made a big step by allowing the 2014 Super Bowl to be played outside….here’s hoping this is the first of many….

Oh, by the way, one more thing on the “it’s too cold” argument…

“Hi, I’m football season, have we met?”



NFL Cities with average February temperatures (warm to cold – in °F)
Miami – 68.5
Tampa – 61.5
San Diego – 58.6
Jacksonville – 55.2
#New Orleans – 54.3
#Glendale – 54.0
San Francisco – 54.0
#Houston – 53.9
Oakland – 51.0
_______________ NFL 50 degree Rule

#Dallas – 47.9
#Atlanta – 44.8
#Seattle – 44.3
Charlotte – 42.5
Tennessee – 40.4
#St. Louis – 35.0
Baltimore – 34.8
Washington D.C. – 33.6
Denver – 33.2
Philadelphia – 33.0
Foxborough – 32.0
East Rutherford – 32.0
Kansas City – 31.2
#Indianapolis – 29.6
Cincinnati – 29.4
Pittsburgh – 28.7
Cleveland – 27.2
Chicago – 25.4
#Detroit – 25.4
Buffalo – 24.5
Green Bay – 18.3
#Minnesota – 17.9

# - team has a dome or retractable roof
**Temperatures were taken from cityrating.com and weatherbase.com




By: Twitter Buttons

You don't have to win, to "win"

Competition can be defined as “rivalry between two or more persons or groups for an object desired in common, usually resulting in a victor and a loser”.
In most cases there is a loser, but can both persons ever “win”. The idea in any competition is to obviously be the victor in the end. I know when I play sports or anything, for that matter, I want to win. It is the nature of the beast; you want to make someone else the loser. However, there are some occurrences where the “must win” attitude is pushed aside to help make things right.

Picture this….you are out on the links on a beautiful day. After the final hole, you learn that you have tied for the conference championship and must play a playoff hole. The winner of the playoff will advance to the national tournament. You may never have the opportunity to win the conference championship again. To add to the excitement, one player in the playoff is a senior, while the other is just a sophomore. The senior has had four years to win a conference championship, while the sophomore is new to the idea.

Now picture this…….the sophomore has stamped his ticket to the national tournament, because he was a part of the conference championship team. The championship team and individual earn a spot to the national tournament. The senior is one of the nicest guys on the course and has worked hard for four years. His team is not going to the national tournament, so his only chance is to win this playoff hole.

If you were the sophomore, would you go after the conference individual championship that you have rightfully put yourself in contention for? Or would you completely blow the playoff hole because you are already going to the national tournament and feel someone else has earned their chance to play in the most prestige tournament?

That is exactly what happened at Heritage Bluffs Golf Club in Channahon, Ill. Grant Whybark, the sophomore mentioned above, qualified for the NAIA national golf tournament for being a part of the University of Saint Francis (Ill.) conference championship team. However, he was forced into a playoff for the individual honors by a senior from Olivet Nazarene, Seth Doran. Whybark’s tee shot on the playoff hole sprayed 40 yards to the right and well out of bounds. He would make double-bogey, while Doran made par to earn his spot in the national tournament. The amazing this about this story is Whybark did it on purpose.

This seems like a nice story, but was Whybark assuming that day that he was the better man on the tee box? Or was he simply giving someone else a spot in the national tournament? The story has reached ESPN Radio, blogs and news outlets all over the country. Some people are happy to hear the story and praise this young man for not claiming both spots (team and individual) to the national tournament. Other people believe or not, are infuriated because of what the young man did. Some are claiming Whybark took something away from Doran for not letting him win it on his own. What do you think? Is this an act of kindness? Or is it an act of embarrassment?

If I am Doran, I would be thanking Whybark until I breathed my last breath in this world. It was the absolute last chance for Doran to realize a dream of competing at the national tournament and Whybark has already earned a spot, so why be greedy? I applaud this young man for doing something that most of us wouldn’t. Most of us would go for the gold because we have earned that opportunity. This was nothing less than a class act of kindness and sportsmanship.

This is not the first time an act like this has happened and hopefully it won’t be the last. In a 2008 softball game between Western Oregon and Central Washington, Western Oregon’s Sara Tucholsky hit a home run for the first time in her long career, at any level. However, Tucholsky injured her knee at first base and collapsed. Western Oregon’s only option was to have a pinch runner enter the game and the three-run home run would turn into a single. Central Washington first baseman Mallory Holtman asked the umpire if they could help their opponent around the bases. When told there was not rule against it, Holtman was joined by shortstop Liz Wallace to do something simply, “unbelievable,” as the two carried Tucholsky to touch each base. The homerun gave Western Oregon a 4-2 win and ended the season for Central Washington, but on that day…more than just Western Oregon was a winner.

In 2009, a high school basketball team was charged with a technical foul for playing a player that was not on the pregame roster. The reason the player was not on the roster was because his mother had passed away that day and the team did not expect him to play. When the opposing team was granted two free throws for the technical foul, senior and Co-captain Darius McNeal stepped to the line and intentionally missed both attempts as an act of sportsmanship.

Acts of sportsmanship are not as common as they used to be, but they do still exist. For an athlete at any level to step up and be the better person is simply amazing. In two of the three stories above, the act of sportsmanship directly impacted the outcome of the game and the losers were deemed “winners”.

UCLA Bruins football coach Henry Russell Sanders was quoted in 1950 saying, “Men, I’ll be honest. Winning isn’t everything. (Long pause). Men, it’s the only thing.”

You have to decide what “winning” actually is to know if it was indeed, the only thing and perhaps, everything.