NFL

Super Tailgatin’

A Super Bowl without tailgating?

Next to Mom and apple pie, there’s nothing quite as American as driving to the football game early, meeting up with friends in the parking lot — and then breaking out the coolers and grills for a good time before kickoff.

Yet for a while it looked as though fans were going to have to get through Super Bowl 2014 without the pre-game festivities. “There will be no tailgating,” said Wayne Hasenbalg, president of the New Jersey Sports and Exhibition Authority, which is in charge of the event.

Fortunately, common sense and the NFL prevailed. On Monday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell made clear that there will indeed be tailgating come Feb. 2 at the Meadowlands — albeit, in modified form.

According to the latest reports, fans will be allowed to bring coolers filled with beverages and food. But grills will not be permitted, and neither will RVs. A big reason for the latter is space: Although the MetLife Stadium’s parking lot has 26,000 spaces, there will be only 11,000 available game day. The rest will be taken by security stations, television trucks and the like. And it looks like you can forget about getting in if you don’t have a ticket to the game.

The other challenges will have to take care of themselves. When the NFL settled on the Meadowlands for SuperBowl 2014, it knew the weather risks: This is a northern, outdoor, non-domed location. Indeed, the New York/New Jersey Super Bowl Host Company proudly advertises February’s game as “the first outdoor, cold weather Super Bowl.”

If the snows come or the temperature plunges, we’re not sure how many are going to want to spend the pre-kickoff hours drinking cold Buds (or even hot coffees) in the MetLife parking lot — with hours of freezing fannies stuck on frigid seats awaiting them inside. But we’re delighted the NFL has the wit to leave that choice up to the fans themselves.