NFL changing the way they pick Super Bowl sites

Lost amongst the barrage of “HEY GUYS, DID YOU KNOW MINNEAPOLIS IS COLD IN FEBRUARY” stories and the other stuff leading up to this week’s big game, we have this item from the folks at The Arizona Republic. Apparently, the National Football League is going to be changing the way that they determine which sites host Super Bowls in the future.

As it stands now, the Super Bowl locations are set through the year 2022, with Atlanta, Miami, Tampa, and Los Angeles set to host the next four contests. Starting with the process of determining the 2023 site, however, things are going to be different.

In the past, the NFL has allowed several cities to bid for the right to host the game and the NFL has picked one of the bidders. However, starting with the 2023 game, it will be the NFL that chooses a location and then enters into negotiations with that one particular city to have the game there.

According to Kent Somers, who wrote the linked article for the Arizona Republic, the goal for the NFL is to have greater control over where the game is held each year rather than having multiple cities lobbying the NFL owners for votes.

Of the cities that are mentioned as “regular hosts” in the article. . .places like New Orleans, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Miami, and even Las Vegas. . .there aren’t any real cold weather cities among them. I guess that media people simply can’t handle the cold weather for the approximately ten minutes that they spend outside on any given day during Super Bowl week.

I suppose that if the NFL doesn’t want the best stadium in the National Football League to host another Super Bowl because some people aren’t capable of packing a parka and a warm hat, then there’s not a lot that can be done about it. But if it happens in the future, it won’t be because of a bid that was pitched to the NFL owners, but via a mandate from the league itself.