Ot: arizona lands super bowl 2008

[BrentyN3]

By Len Pasquarelli

ESPN.com

CHICAGO -- In the latest example of how important state-of-the art playing facilities are to the NFL, league owners Thursday afternoon awarded Super Bowl XLII for 2008 to the Phoenix area, to be played in a retractable dome stadium.

The stadium, to be built in Glendale, Ariz., is scheduled to open in 2006.

Phoenix defeated Washington, D.C. and Tampa, winning the rights to the title game with a rare first-ballot victory over its competitors. While the head count was not announced, Phoenix captured at least 24 votes, since it requires the approval of three-quarters of the 32 member franchises to win on the first ballot.

The Super Bowl decision came in the final session of a two-day meeting here.

"This is something that we have been working toward for a very long time," said Arizona Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill. "Today makes all the hard work that has gone into this bid very much worth the investment. It's very, very gratifying."

The game will be the second Super Bowl contest in the Phoenix area, which also hosted the 1996 game. That was Super Bowl XXX, played at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, in which the Dallas Cowboys defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Because of the revenues generated by the game, securing the rights to a Super Bowl is seen as a civic coup, and Arizona politicians were not shy in discussing the financial ramifications of landing the contest. It is likely the Phoenix area will realize more than $300 million in overall financial impact.

The fact Phoenix won the bid is significant for other reasons as well.

First, the league has in recent years dangled Super Bowl games as a carrot for those communities considering new facilities for their NFL franchises. Pheonix is merely the latest NFL precinct to benefit from the Super Bowl incentive. Second, the 2008 Super Bowl was the contest pitched by commissioner Paul Tagliabue for one of two "northern tier" sites, New York and Washington.

Because of the improvements required by Giants Stadium to bring the facility up to the Super Bowl requirements, New York and New Jersey opted to delay their bid until the 2009 game. The site selection committee likely won't consider bids for that game until sometime in 2005. The decision by New York/New Jersey to drop out of contention for the 2008 contest left Washington as the lone northern site.

It is unlikely that Washington, despite the positive reception to its presentation, will be able to bid for the 2009 game, since it would conflict with the presidential inauguration and the events surrounding it that year.

While several owners lauded the preparation and politicking of Redskins owner Daniel Snyder, and the Washington bid was better received than originally believed, clearly the overriding sentiments were with the Phoenix package.

The area helped itself some by bailing out the NFL this week, allowing the San Diego Chargers to move their Monday night game against the Miami Dolphins into Sun Devil Stadium on short notice. In fact, Bidwill and his son, Michael, received a standing ovation from league owners on Wednesday for that gesture.

"Well, it certainly didn't hurt them," said Tagliabue of the hospitality offered by the city of Phoenix and the Cardinals organization for the Monday night contest. "But I think this Super Bowl (bid) ... was not built on Monday night. This was the product of seven years of hard work, and of the Cardinals getting the stadium they have sought ever since they moved to the Phoenix area."

Tagliabue deemed "outstanding" all three Super Bowl candidate presentations. And even Bidwill said he was "overwhelmed" by the quality of the competition for the contest.

The lineup for upcoming Super Bowls is: Houston (2004), Jackonsville (2005), Detroit (2006), Miami (2007) and now Phoenix (2008).

[Ez Street]

play the damn game in cold weather outdoors, what is the friggin deal! They play the AFC/NFC championships outdoors. I really hate the rotation. At least Houston, Detroit, and Jasksonville are new possiblities. I wanna see the Super Bowl in snow for god sakes.

[CC97]

Moved to Gen. Discussion

[STL FANATIC]

Yeah, I hate that too. Although, I'm not arguing for snow. Here in St. Louis not only do we have a dome, but it may darn well be 70 degrees the day it's played. You never know here.

Also, I remember when the Rams won the SB in Atlanta. It was a dome so the game was unaffected, but people getting to the game was affected by a ton of snow. Yes, in Atlanta.

[NJTank]

I want a cold weather Super Bowl so this disappoints me. I really think its time the NFL spreads the Super Bowl around to everyone. Put one in Foxboro, teh Medowlands Chicago, and even Green Bay can you imagine how great aSuper Bowl in Green Bay will be. Its not fair that its in Florida or New Orleans every other year.

[yh]

I want a cold weather Super Bowl so this disappoints me. I really think its time the NFL spreads the Super Bowl around to everyone. Put one in Foxboro, teh Medowlands Chicago, and even Green Bay can you imagine how great aSuper Bowl in Green Bay will be. Its not fair that its in Florida or New Orleans every other year.

I gotta say, I just can't see a Super Bowl NOT selling out in Green Bay.  The only challenge is the sufficiency of on-site or near-site transportation, hotel and convention center facilities for all the corporate fatcats and the other hooha that accompanies the game.  I would love to see a snowy Super Bowl.  The only drawback is we wouldn't have John Facenda to narrate the highlight film.

[Mac the Knife]

The owners shot down the 18-game regular season yesterday as well, just in case anyone hadn't heard.

[yh]

The owners shot down the 18-game regular season yesterday as well, just in case anyone hadn't heard.

I didn't even know that was a topic for debate.  I don't think an 18 game schedule would ever fly in the NFL.  The only way to pull that off is to reduce the number of preseason games to two.  The GM's and coaches would have a fit with that.  But even if they did reduce the number of preseason games to two  (or to three by starting games in July), that still means wiping out the bye week and beginning the season the last week of August or playing the Super Bowl the second weekend in February.  I think the Players Union would disapprove of eliminating the bye week and beginning the preseason in July.  An eighteen game schedule is never going to fly in the NFL.

Oh, and on another note, the NFL at its Fall Meetings also declined to reconsider Pottsville, PA's request to strip the Chicago Cardinals of their 1925 NFL title and "return" the crown to the Pottsville Maroons.  To make a long story short (yeah, right), the Maroons beat the Cards in what was supposed to be the last scheduled game of the NFL season.  The win by Pottsville gave them a better record than the Cards by 1 game.  Now, keep in mind that in 1925 NFL teams and not the league set their own schedules.  The only rule regarding scheduling was that once the season started, you could only play NFL teams.  If you played a non-NFL team, your season was considered over and no further games would count as anything but exhibitions.  Well, after Pottsville beat the Cards, you guessed it, they played an exhibition game.  The Cards then hastily scheduled a pair of games against NFL teams (each of whom had very few starters left because they had gone back to their real jobs by this time), whipped them both and by virtue of their now-superior record, were crowned NFL champs.  So, I guess you could say yesterday was a really, really big day for the Cardinal franchise - getting to host the 2008 Super Bowl and not being stripped of 50% of their NFL championships.

[NJTank]

This tells you just how bad the Cardinals have been in the NFL the fact that hey had to cheat for 1 of their 2 titles is sadly pathetic. I really thing the NFL oughta declare a co-Championship at least. 1925 was before champoionshiup games and set scheduldes so the rules were bendable and the Cards screwed over the Maroons.