Justin Worsley
What does New York, Minneapolis and Detroit have in common? They are the only three northern cities to host a Super Bowl. New York, however, holds the significance of being the only northern city to host a Super Bowl in a stadium without a dome roof.
New York won the bidding war over Tampa Bay to host the 2014 Super Bowl. The annual NFL Championship game is traditionally hosted in either a stadium with an enclosed roof or in a city which holds an average high temperature of 50 degrees in late January or early February. New York is more frigid, hosting around a 40-degree high average in February.
Despite hosting four previous Super Bowls, including Pittsburgh's 27-23 victory over Arizona in 2009, Tampa Bay lost in the second-round of voting by the NFL owners. This monumental vote, which the NFL even lifted their warm-climate rule to allow, marks history for the NFL.
Super Bowl XLVIII will now be played in the new Meadowlands Stadium. The $1.6 billion stadium opened it's doors last month for a professional lacrosse game and is the home of both New York-based NFL clubs, the Giants and Jets. The Giants will host the Carolina Panthers in the first NFL game played in the stadium on Sept. 12.
One reason the owners may have voted for a cold Super Bowl is due to the history of the NFL games. Several of the greatest NFL games have been played in sub-zero temperatures including the "Ice Bowl," where the Green Bay Packers defeated the Dallas Cowboys 21-17 in the 1967 NFL Championship game. The official game temperature was -13-degrees Fahrenheit. Other recent cold-weather games include the New England Patriots 16-13 victory over the Oakland Raiders in the 2002 AFC Divisional playoff game. The game, which is now famous due to the "tuck rule" was played on a field covered in snow. In 2007 the Giants beat the Favre-led Packers 23-20 in a game played in -1-degree temperature.
"I like doing things for the first time ... I hope it snows," Jets owner Woody Johnson told ESPNNewYork.com's Rick Cimini.
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