We can all envision Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning breaking the huddle under snow flurries on a slightly white field during the 2014 Super Bowl. A scene like that is what makes football so romantic and appealing to the most casual of fans.
For the first time in National Football League history, the Super Bowl will be played in a winter climate in East Rutherford, New Jersey at Met Life Stadium. Since the first Super Bowl, played in Los Angeles in 1967, each season has seen a warm weather climate host the big game. Since the controversial announcement that this game will be played in New York/New Jersey, there has been much to discuss and its detractors have their obvious points. A major storm can derail Super Bowl plans despite the greatest of efforts and could possibly turn this event into a disaster. An argument can also be made that only perfect conditions should decide a championship. There are many arguments that work against it.
However, an outside game being played in winter conditions to decide a football championship is not new to this league. People must remember that before the creation of the Super Bowl, the NFL Championship was played every year and sometimes in brutal conditions. On December 28th, 1958 at Yankee Stadium in New York City, the New York Giants and the Indianapolis Colts played for the National Football League Championship. It was a game played outdoors in the middle of winter, and is still considered by many to be “The Greatest Game Ever Played," Wikipedia.com. And there are many more examples of classic cold weather games throughout history that we all remember fondly.
Today, we finally have a realistic 10 day weather forecast for the game, and the early results call for a possible snow storm, according to NJ.com. Many who oppose the idea will argue that the Super Bowl is no longer only a game and cannot take any chances. When it comes to the safety of everybody involved, a snow storm that weekend will have the NFL scrambling. Also, considering that nothing ever runs up against the Super Bowl, what if the game is forced to be pushed back to Saturday or Friday? Do the people who have other plans those days just go without watching the Super Bowl? If you have tickets to the Knicks/Heat game on Friday night in New York City expecting to watch LeBron James, do you just not go because it’s now Super Bowl Friday?
Football is a game played in the elements and the athletes that play know you must adapt in whatever climate is present. However the modern Super Bowl is not only Football. It is the biggest event in the world and cannot be planned or decided by chance. For the National Football League this season’s end can go one of two very different ways, and that end will decide the future of the biggest game in the world. Mother Nature is now the most important person involved. She will decide if the cold weather Super Bowl becomes a spectacular phenomenon repeated in the future or an outright disaster that will never be mentioned again.