Bears Blitz

Published by Andrew Garda on May 31, 2012
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

It was reported on Thursday that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel met and discussed the possibility of a Windy City hosted Super Bowl.

Goodell referred to the upcoming New York Super Bowl in 2014 when he was asked how realistic it was for Chicago to get one.

“I think if we can do it successfully (in New York), I think that opens up doors where we’ll be looking at. Obviously, you know how to host great events. … And you got a great stadium.”

I agree. In fact, I think it’s a spectacular idea.

First of all, Goodell is spot on about Soldier Field. I was fortunate enough to visit Chicago last year during football season, and, while I was unable to catch a game (they were traveling), I was able to take a long walk around and in the stadium.

When they redesigned the structure, they left a lot of the exterior intact. The gorgeous old walls with the original pillars are still there. While the stadium itself isn’t the same as it was (and given the state of bathrooms from mid-last century, thank God), the heart of the stadium—the walls and the exterior—still remains.

A Super Bowl at Soldier Field would open up a piece of football history to thousands of fans.

Goodell did point out that the 63,500 capacity will play a factor (MetLife in New Jersey holds 82,500 fans), but the facility itself is a comfortable, well put together venue. Plenty of good sight lines, decent location and, as far as I could see, pretty good access to parking and mass transit.

I don’t live there so maybe the mass transit is awful, but it seemed good to me.

Secondly, Chicago is a fantastic city in and of itself. There is a phenomenal amount of great food, good entertainment and attractions to see. It would be easy for fans to find things to do beside the events surrounding “The Big Game” and a wealth of opportunity to have fun and immerse themselves in the culture of a great and storied city.

In fact, I’ll put you one better here. The stadium is far better located than MetLife is. I like MetLife as a stadium, but it’s a little far from everything—including NYC itself.

Any events will likely be hosted in Manhattan, as the stadium is a bit remote. It’s not tough to get there, at all—New York and New Jersey have some great trains—but you can’t easily have an event at the stadium and follow it up with another right after anywhere else.

Not a problem in Chicago where the stadium is in the city.

Finally, there’s the weather.

Football should be played outdoors. It may snow, it may rain, it may be windy (it IS the Windy City) as the lake next door to the stadium will blow weather right into the faces of some fans.

However, let me point out something. The warm weather places? It’s not always perfect. It rained in Miami—one of the famed warm weather spots owners covet—during the Super Bowl a few years back. It snowed in Dallas the year before last.

I wasn’t there, but I know it did because every news report and story about the game complained endlessly about the weather.

Look, this is a point where I am about to lose a ton of you, and I get it. You think football’s greatest game should be played in a perfect environment so weather doesn’t impact it and change the outcome.

Weather did impact it though. During the regular season and the playoffs. Inclement weather impacted the Super Bowl even in the aforementioned Miami game.

In my opinion, people don’t worry about the game so much as they worry about being cold (looking at my fellow media and my not-fellow rich people in the box seats) and being inconvenienced.

Bad weather is a pain in the rear. But it’s also often a game enhancer as well.

We’ve seen some legendary games in bad weather. The Patriots-Raiders “Tuck Rule”. The “Ice Bowl”.

Heck, hockey is moving games OUTSIDE every Christmas.

Weather is part of the game. Embrace it. If the fat cats can’t hack it, then great—maybe blue-collar fans will be able to afford a ticket sometime this century.

Plus, if New York pulls it off and Chicago pulls it off—we can have more old-school NFL cities in cold weather climates get a shot. A Super Bowl should be played in Lambeau Field. A Championship should be won in Denver.

Heck, a Super Bowl in Buffalo might be the closest that city ever gets to that game!

A cold-weather Super Bowl isn’t something to be scared of. Weather has been a factor in games for a century. It’s time we stopped denying it and start embracing it.

Give Chicago the Super Bowl. It’s the right thing to do for the sport.

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