Congratulations to Minneapolis, which will host the Super Bowl for the second time in 2018. If you’re keeping score, after New York/New Jersey’s gig in 2014, now half of the NFL’s current cities have had the big game come to their metro areas.
That also leaves half the league having never hosted the league’s championship game and cash cow. Now that February weather during either the Super Bowl or the week leading up to it is less of a factor, here are the five cities that deserve one most:
1. Chicago. The Midwest’s most passionate sports town is our kind of town. New York, Los Angeles and Houston have all had their chances to host as most populous centers, and Chicago fits right in between. Mayor Rahm Emanuel needs to keep pushing commissioner Roger Goodell like he did last year. It feels right to crown a champ in such an All-American city.
There’s only one considerable factor working against the Windy City. Even after the revamping of Soldier Field and potential for seat expansion, its projected capacity of 62,871 give it the smallest in the league. Given the Super Bowl is more of a television event, anyway, that shouldn’t override the optimism. At the very least, Chicago should land the soon-to-be-mobile NFL draft as a consolation prize.
2. Denver. The Broncos have been in seven Super Bowls and played in the most recent one, so you would think as another proud franchise in a vibrant, albeit wintry city, they deserve the chance. Denver has pulled off plenty of AFC title games in January, and it’s Mile High time they got the ultimate championship. It will be interesting, after holding off from bidding on 2018, if city officials will re-enter the fray for ’19 or ’20. Sports Authority Field has no problem with capacity, seventh in the NFL at 76,125.
3. Seattle. For your average Seahawks home game, or for Major League Soccer's Sounders, for that matter, CenturyLink Field is one of America’s most exciting sports venues. We already know it’s the loudest. Now that Seattle fans have brought the noise all the way to a Super Bowl, it’s time to bring the Super Bowl to them.
The Kingdome wasn’t good enough to reign in one, but their shiny still new open-air home can hold up to 72,000. The weather in February is more pleasant than it would be in New York/New Jersey, too. Seattle is booming in many ways, and its sports commission should continue to be more vocal about its Super push.
4. St. Louis. It wouldn’t work in the Rams’ current home, the Edward Jones Dome. For one, it may not be their home for much longer, and as it is, it has the smallest capacity (66,000) of any indoor NFL venue. But the city should take a good hint from San Francisco/Santa Clara, Minneapolis and soon, Atlanta (again). If you build a new state of the art stadium, the NFL will come calling with its biggest revenue prize.
As the Greatest Show on Turf days have faded, St. Louis remains firmly baseball first and football a distant second, maybe, if hockey isn’t in between. It’s still a good traditional sports city with a community that would fully support a Super Bowl. It would be the biggest motivating factor to get the Rams a more permanent venue. It’s only been 19 years for the Ed, but it’s already outdated. They should soon follow the Falcons, who will be replacing the Georgia Dome after just 25 years in 2017.
5. Pittsburgh. As long it doesn’t involve the Gotham Knights and Bane, the Steel City needs to be in play. When you think Super Bowl era, the Steelers are the first team that come to mind with their six-ring history. So why shouldn’t Black and Gold headquarters get one chance to show off its hosting colors?
Pittsburgh hasn’t been known as a big sporting event city of late, save for the Penguins’ Stanley Cup run of five years ago. But the Pirates just ended a long playoff drought, and the Steelers are bound for a rebound. It’s time to turn Steel into Super soon.
The negatives for Heinz Field — its less than 70,000-seat capacity and its often shoddy natural grass surface — can be outweighed by rewarding the league’s most passionate fan base south of Green Bay.
