Sports

New York getting the Super Bowl is a game changer

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When NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced at the NFL’s Annual Meeting in Dallas that the 2014 Super Bowl game will be played in the new Meadowlands Stadium, it was less about the sizzle of a game in the Big Apple and more about the league helping the Giants and Jets.  Having the Super Bowl in the Meadowlands will allow ownership sell seats to their new $1.6 billion, 82,500-seats stadium, while rewarding the region for putting up the $1.6 billion dollars to build the new complex.
Putting the game in the New York area is a big-time game changer for all those cold weather cities that have wanted the game but have been told they needed a dome. It is a message to South Florida that, unless you build a new stadium, we might not be back for a while.   It also opened the door for California teams looking at new stadium plans in San Diego, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area.
But more on that after we look at the real reason that the game will be played in the Meadowlands. Less than four months before kickoff, both the Giants and Jets are still trying to sell season tickets — a marked change from the old Giants Stadium, where both franchises had a generations-long waiting list for season tickets.
The problem is a three-letter acronym that has turned into a four-letter word for fans and teams alike: PSL, or a personal seat license. A PSL is a one-time purchase that gives the fan a right to buy his season tickets, but the spiraling economy turned the PSL — and, as a result, season tickets — into a luxury many could not afford. Costs of the PSLs for Jets season tickets range from $4,000 to more than $30,000, while Giants PSLs run anywhere from $1,000 to $20,000.
While the Giants are about 2,500 PSL’s away from getting their season sold out, the Jets are another story. Despite discounts and some minor PSL and ticket reductions, they are still far short of selling the season out. That means possible blackouts for the Jets in the league’s top market.
So now back to how playing the game outdoors changes the way Super Bowls will be rewarded.
The NFL has already helped out owners in Detroit (twice), Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Houston and Dallas by awarding Super Bowls to cities willing to spend hundreds of millions of taxpayer’s dollars to build domed showplaces for the league. But by heading outdoors, you can bet the Redskins Daniel Snyder, the Broncos Pat Bowlen, the Patriots Bob Kraft, the Bears McCaskey family, the Ravens Steve Bisciotti,  Pittsburgh’s Dan Rooney, and Paul Allen in Seattle will all want to see a rotation that is similar to baseball’s All Star Game.
My guess is that the deal will likely keep the Super Bowl in warm climes and say every second or third year a new cold weather city will be given” the game.”  Whatever the case, things have certainly changed on how the Super Bowl is awarded.