Could the Super Bowl end up here? Probably not, say the city’s top football men, Wayne Weaver and Mike Weinstein. After the league stood down last week in the wake of terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., play resumes this weekend. To keep the integrity of the 16-game season, games missed last Sunday will be made up the first week in January, which puts a crimp on the NFL’s standard three weeks of playoff games leading to the Super Bowl.
Currently, the league is considering two options: eliminate one round of wild card playoffs and play the Super Bowl on its scheduled Jan. 27 date in New Orleans or keep the wild card round and push the Super Bowl back to Feb. 3.
Option one could happen, but there is too much stadium revenue and TV money at stake to nix a week of playoffs. Option two looks good on paper, but the National Automobile Dealers Association is holding a convention in New Orleans that week and they’re not budging. And, New Orleans mayor Marc Morial said that city would have a difficult time supporting both events simultaneously.
To avoid a possible logistical nightmare, the NFL has begun to gauge other cities’ interest in sponsoring a Super Bowl in case New Orleans can’t cope. NFL vice president of special events Jim Steeg reportedly contacted the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau to get a feel for South Florida’s situation.
Another option being kicked around is to move the conference championship games to New Orleans, play them both on Jan. 27 and move the Super Bowl to Feb. 3 and play it another city.
That scenario would give New Orleans two big games and appease the NADA. But it also raises several questions: what about the two teams who earn home field advantage throughout the playoffs? Would they be willing to give up a conference championship game played on their home turf? What about lost revenue? What if the New Orleans Saints and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers advance to the NFC title game? Would the Bucs be willing to play the game in New Orleans for the sake of NADA?
And, if the game does have to be moved, why not Jacksonville in 2002 as a short-notice site for the Super Bowl?
“We would not be prepared to handle it,” said Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver. “We’re fortunate to have three and a half years to get ready [for the 2005 game]. There is no way Jacksonville could ramp up and host something like that.”
Mike Weinstein, president and chief executive officer of the 2005 Super Bowl Host Committee, immediately discarded the notion of a 2002 River City Super Bowl.
“Jacksonville is not one of those potential sites,” said Weinstein. “We would be overwhelmed by the numbers.”
Lacking sufficient permanent hotel space, Jacksonville strung together a deal to land the NFL’s big game in 2005 by agreeing to bring in several cruise ships to supplement the city’s current sleeping arrangements. It’s not something that can happen overnight.
“You need two years to get cruise ships scheduled,” said Weinstein, joking that the only thing the city could get on short order would be a few yachts. “Years from now with more hotels we could do it on short notice.”
Although there are renovations planned to get Alltel Stadium ready for the 2005 game, it’s modern enough and has sufficient capacity to host the the Super Bowl tomorrow if needed. But the logistics of hosting a sports event second only to the Olympics would prove too much for Jacksonville to pull off in three months.
“The stadium is no problem. It’s all the events and the hotel rooms,” added Weinstein.
The local Super Bowl gurus would rather Jacksonville take its time and get its first foray into the NFL’s big game right instead of rushing onto the field naked.
“It would end up hurting us in the long term,” said Weaver. “When we do it, we want to do it right. We want the Super Bowl to come back again and again. We want people to have a good experience.”
Both Weaver and Weinstein expected the Super Bowl to remain in New Orleans despite its potential conflict with the NADA’s convention.