2013 NFL Off-Season Thread

[TruColor]

Miami isn't getting another Super Bowl until the city and state come up with hundreds of millions to renovate JoePlayer SunShark. Miami is now in the same boat as San Diego. New Orleans was on the list, but they recently got off.

My prediction: Santa Clara and Houston will be the next two.

[guest23]

Santa Clara will definitely get the next one due to the new stadium=sb host agreement. Given that Palo Alto hosted in '84 a few miles up the road this makes sense. You have SF and SJ as bookends for hotels and airports plus the smaller towns between that all have downtowns with restaurants and bars. The only drawback is that there's nothing near the stadium worth a damn as it's next to a lame amusement park and a bunch of nondescript office buildings but then again other hosts have had to navigate through the same issues.

[Still MIGHTY]

- Santa Clara picked for Super Bowl L in 2016.

- Houston picked for Super Bowl LI in 2017.

- Miami not picked.

[FooMasterX5]

I really hope that the NFL puts SB 50 in Santa Clara. It would be a real disappointment to see the 50th Super Bowl be just another rehash of a Miami Super Bowl.

Theres not going to be one in Miami for I while, the Dolphins were told if they dont renovate and add a roof no more superbowls.

The latest plans were sent to vote but died... the owner was fitting 70% of the bill and now nothings happening.

[B-Rich]

- Santa Clara picked for Super Bowl L in 2016.

- Houston picked for Super Bowl LI in 2017.

- Miami not picked.

New Orleans is making a big push for the next one (in 2018), the year of the city's Tricentennial.

[pmoehrin]

- Miami not picked.

No doubt done at least somewhat in protest over the stadium referendum bill being shot down.

[Lee Noire]

Good for Santa Clara. That stadium looks beautiful and worthy of the big one. Reliant is still one of the best in the league and Houston is a great city. I had some Great times in downtown Houston a couple years ago. Speaking of stadiums I just noticed the ship influence in the Vikings stadium art. Yeah, I definitely see more Noah's ark than Minnesota first baptist in that art.

[guest23]

I really hope that the NFL puts SB 50 in Santa Clara. It would be a real disappointment to see the 50th Super Bowl be just another rehash of a Miami Super Bowl.

Theres not going to be one in Miami for I while, the Dolphins were told if they dont renovate and add a roof no more superbowls.

The latest plans were sent to vote but died... the owner was fitting 70% of the bill and now nothings happening.

Yes the nfl has mastered the art taxpayer extortion. You subsidize their mult-ibillion $ industry or they take their ball and go home (SB) or they leave town (LA). As far as to the PR of many of these stadium deals, what ownership says to the press that they are footing as a large % of the bill, but it often turns out to not being the case once the fine print is actually released. Too often that is too late and the municipalities/taxpayers take it in the shorts.

As far as net economic benefit goes, deadspin has a wealth articles that document how taxpayers continually get screwed over in these deals, especially with the nfl. Additionally if these deals make so much economic sense you would see the private sector (investment banks and private equity) rush to finance these stadium deals on the owners' behalf, as the return on investment would be too good to pass up. Something just doesn't add up.

[CS85]

So Mario Wiliams & The Case of the Maltese Wedding Ring has gotten really, really weird (via Deadspin):

Late last week, the lawyer for Erin Marzouki, Williams's ex-fiancée, released a series of text messages Williams allegedly had sent Marzouki back on Nov. 11, the day the Bills played a road game against the Patriots:

Among them:

• “I took 3 hydrocodones this morning and no one knows. I’m going to take 2 more on the plane and fade away.”

• “No money in the world should leave me with suicidal thoughts.” And: “I need to go back n my shell. There’s no telling what Ill do to myself at this point. I’m sry Ill disappear from now on.”

The messages had been deleted from Marzouki's phone, but just to show how ugly this has become, her lawyer told the Buffalo News a forensics expert had been hired to retrieve them. Which, in turn, put Williams in the awkward position of having to explain the darkest contours of his relationship drama during a 10-minute press c

onference after yesterday's practice.

Williams admitted he sent the texts but said they were "blown out of proportion" and were taken "completely out of context":

Regarding suicidal thoughts, Williams said: “In my situation, I’m completely fine. I’ve never had any inclination of anything that even myself would notice.”

Never in moment of anger did you suggest you might kill yourself, he was asked? “In a moment of anger, I talk about everything, I tell you that,” he said. “And I don’t know who would say they don’t. So that answers your question.”

Asked again later on if he had suicidal thoughts, Williams said: “No, no, no. Like I said, in the heat of battle, in the heat of ups and downs, things like that, you just come to somebody who you think you can just vent to, and whatever comes out comes out.

“I think that’s just a way of venting out, but obviously that’s the wrong person to vent to,” Williams said of Marzouki. “It’s just something that I wouldn’t tell anybody else – as far as venting – than the person you love or whatnot at the time.”

Williams explained the hydrocodone—a pain medication—as something he had been prescribed for the wrist injury that plagued him for much of last season.

[Gothamite]

- Miami not picked.

No doubt done at least somewhat in protest over the stadium referendum bill being shot down.

Of course. That surprised exactly no one.

[BlueSky]

This SB award is the first time I really took a look at exactly where they're building the 49ers stadium. I used to live in Newark CA (across the 880 from Fremont) and worked in San Jose. It still didn't really register when they said Santa Clara. That stadium is damn near in San Jose! That's a good 45 minute drive from San Francisco on a good day. Throw in traffic and wow...that's a long, long way for a team's stadium to be from its city.

They should have gone back to Kezar.

JK of course but if you ever have a chance to go see Kezar, do it. The location is amazing and though it's changed a little, it's still mindblowing to think of NFL football being played there.

Lions vs. Niners, 1957

[Kramerica Industries]

I would say that it looks like the NFL equivalent of Wrigley Field, in terms of spectators outside the facility watching the action, but then I remember that the Bears played at Wrigley for 50 years, including the overlapping time period when the Niners played at Kezar.

In fact, I think they both left Wrigley and Kezar after the 1970 season.

[vicfurth]

Brian urlacher announced his retirement today. 13 years. He played his high school football across the street from my aunt.

[BlueSky]

nfl.com reporting that Michael Crabtree tore his Achilles tendon in OTAs and may be done for 2013.

[Kramerica Industries]

This after he finally showed his potential last season. Takes away Kaep's favourite option.

Should be interesting to see how SF adjusts.

[chuckymack]

They've still got Boldin, Manningham, and Davis. I'm not certain they'll need to do a whole lot of adjusting.

[Cujo]

Brian Urlacher announced his retirement today. 13 years. He played his high school football across the street from my aunt.

New Mexico's own.

I hate to see Urlacher go out this way. I figured he had another year or two left in him. Next stop, Canton.

[dfwabel]

They've still got Boldin, Manningham, and Davis. I'm not certain they'll need to do a whole lot of adjusting.

But recall that Manningham and Kyle Williams are returning from December knee surgeries. Manningham (ACL and PCL) and Williams (ACL). AJ Jenkins didn't get on the 45-man roster much as a rookie #30 overall and even if Jim Harbaugh loves the recently drafted Marcus Cotton, his track record is not to play rookies much.

[MEANS]

tearing the achilles is not a season ending injury like it was before, Suggs returned last year, after tearing it earlier in the year.

[FiddySicks]

This SB award is the first time I really took a look at exactly where they're building the 49ers stadium. I used to live in Newark CA (across the 880 from Fremont) and worked in San Jose. It still didn't really register when they said Santa Clara. That stadium is damn near in San Jose! That's a good 45 minute drive from San Francisco on a good day. Throw in traffic and wow...that's a long, long way for a team's stadium to be from its city.

They should have gone back to Kezar.

JK of course but if you ever have a chance to go see Kezar, do it. The location is amazing and though it's changed a little, it's still mindblowing to think of NFL football being played there.

Lions vs. Niners, 1957

Kezar is a great little park. My mom's high school used to play in the Turkey Bowl there and my dad had season tickets to the 49ers when they played there years before. It's be insane to try and put any pro sports team in that part of the city now though. What a logistical nightmare that would be.

As for Levi's Stadium, I really don't mind it being in Santa Clara. While having a park in the city near AT&T Park would've been great, it just wasnt feasible. There simply isn't enough affordable property in the city to make it work. And putting a new park around Candlestick Point would be dumb too because of the weather in that particular part of the city and the fact that the freeways leading to and from the park are downright awful. Santa Clara makes getting to and from the park so much easier, and it opens up easier access to fans in San Jose, which is the biggest city in the Bay Area anyway.

I know a lot of people don't like that the Niners are moving out of the city, but it's not that different from having the Cowboys in Irving or Arlington. Personally, I think they should work out a deal with the Raiders and share Levi's Stadium. I know a lot of people will hate that idea, but with the condition of the Oakland Coliseum and Candlestick Park, combined with the economic issues California is facing, there's really no reason to even consider two new football stadiums in the Bay Area.