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Will Washington, DC Ever Host a Super Bowl?
Posted May 25th 2007 10:12AM
by Ryan Wilson
The Washington Times' Dan Daly thinks that Dallas North Texas winning the 2011 Super Bowl is a signal for Commanders owner Dan Snyder to start pimping Washington, DC as a potential host for the Big Game.
The problem, of course, is that the Super Bowl has very little to do with football: it's about making as much money as possible. To that end, most tickets go to corporate sponsors, as a nice little thank-you for their business. Last February, it rained through four quarters of the Super Bowl and inclement weather doesn't mix well with tailor-made suits (and no, a team jersey with your name on the back doesn't count). The empty seats were a testament to that.
This is why a cold-weather city with an outdoor stadium will never, ever get a Super Bowl. I don't consider Washington, DC a cold-weather city -- it's south of the Mason-Dixon line, after all -- but the average February high is 47 degrees with over six inches of snow. Not exactly tropical.
One option has Snyder building a temporary roof for FedEx Field. And while it sounds far-fetched, this is exactly what Kansas City was considering last year. But there's a bigger problem than the logistics that go with slapping a cover on a 92,000-seat stadium: traffic.
Yes, every major city has traffic, and yes it is always an issue at the Super Bowl. But unlike the North Texas site -- which was designed around the automobile -- FedEx Field was plopped down just outside the city limits as an afterthought. And with no real regard for the transportation-related headaches that would result.
Knowing Snyder (and I don't, so take that for what it's worth), if he wants the Super Bowl to come to DC, he won't be deterred by something as mundane as parking or stadium-covering tarps. But instead of working with local government officials to make the stadium more accessible -- more roads into FedEx, more parking lots ... whatever -- I fully expect him to do something outrageous and totally unnecessary. Like build a weather machine. Because the guy who controls the weather controls the world. Or something.
Update: Hogs Haven has more here. And as UM points out in the comments, Danny may not need that weather machine if the Commanders build a new retractable-roof stadium in the city in the next few years.
Posted May 25th 2007 10:12AM
by Ryan Wilson
The Washington Times' Dan Daly thinks that Dallas North Texas winning the 2011 Super Bowl is a signal for Commanders owner Dan Snyder to start pimping Washington, DC as a potential host for the Big Game.
The problem, of course, is that the Super Bowl has very little to do with football: it's about making as much money as possible. To that end, most tickets go to corporate sponsors, as a nice little thank-you for their business. Last February, it rained through four quarters of the Super Bowl and inclement weather doesn't mix well with tailor-made suits (and no, a team jersey with your name on the back doesn't count). The empty seats were a testament to that.
This is why a cold-weather city with an outdoor stadium will never, ever get a Super Bowl. I don't consider Washington, DC a cold-weather city -- it's south of the Mason-Dixon line, after all -- but the average February high is 47 degrees with over six inches of snow. Not exactly tropical.
One option has Snyder building a temporary roof for FedEx Field. And while it sounds far-fetched, this is exactly what Kansas City was considering last year. But there's a bigger problem than the logistics that go with slapping a cover on a 92,000-seat stadium: traffic.
Yes, every major city has traffic, and yes it is always an issue at the Super Bowl. But unlike the North Texas site -- which was designed around the automobile -- FedEx Field was plopped down just outside the city limits as an afterthought. And with no real regard for the transportation-related headaches that would result.
Knowing Snyder (and I don't, so take that for what it's worth), if he wants the Super Bowl to come to DC, he won't be deterred by something as mundane as parking or stadium-covering tarps. But instead of working with local government officials to make the stadium more accessible -- more roads into FedEx, more parking lots ... whatever -- I fully expect him to do something outrageous and totally unnecessary. Like build a weather machine. Because the guy who controls the weather controls the world. Or something.
Update: Hogs Haven has more here. And as UM points out in the comments, Danny may not need that weather machine if the Commanders build a new retractable-roof stadium in the city in the next few years.
