New York is the city that has everything, and now the people who live here want more. They want the Super Bowl.
“They should play the Super Bowl in New York because New York is a great city, the greatest city, and it should be the site of the greatest, most important games,” Christopher Winston said.
New Yorkers may get their wish. The New Meadowlands Stadium, which will host Giants and Jets home games beginning this season, is the favorite to land Super Bowl XLVIII in February 2014. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell will announce the official decision this afternoon.
The New Meadowlands Stadium is in New Jersey, but New Yorkers seem to feel it’s all one and the same.
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“The New York-New Jersey area would be a great place for the Super Bowl,” Alfredo Gonzalez said. “The fans are knowledgeable and the people know how to celebrate big events.”
New York is famous for its Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center, its New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square, its Halloween Parade in Greenwich Village and its Fourth of July hotdog-eating contest in Coney Island, among other holiday traditions.
Though Super Bowl Sunday is not an official holiday, it is treated as such by many people, even non-football fans. The Super Bowl coming to The Meadowlands would be a can’t-miss event, according to John Martin.
“I’d be thrilled if the Super Bowl was [local] because I might actually get to go to the game,” Martin said. “Traveling to Florida or California just for a game isn’t feasible for me, but if it’s at the Meadowlands and I just have to pay for a ticket, I’ll definitely try to go.”
There was very little opposition to the bid among those polled by The Post. There was significant apathy, though. Eight of 34 people approached had not heard of the bid, and an additional five said they did not care at all.
Most opinions were in favor of the Super Bowl coming to the tri-state area, even if it means playing the game in blizzard conditions.
“That’s part of the game,” Terry Perkins said. “As long as both teams have to play in it, it’s fair. Football is a cold-weather sport.”
John McDonald agreed. He said playing the Super Bowl in warm weather favors certain teams, and thinks the Giants and Jets would benefit from a cold-weather venue.
“The game has changed [because] the Super Bowl is always in warm weather,” McDonald said. “You don’t see a lot of teams playing ball control anymore, running the ball 30 times a game. There’s much more passing because they don’t have to worry about playing in bad weather. If they do, they might change their gameplan.”
Twenty-seven people (79 percent) believe the bid will be approved, and only four said they hope it is not. Concerns about increased traffic, vehicular and pedestrian, were largely assuaged by the fact that February is typically a down time for tourism in New York, so the presence of Super Bowl aficionados isn’t expected to put an undo burden on the transit system.
“I think, and I hope, it will be approved,” Robert Garcia said. “It’s about time the Super Bowl comes to New York.”
One aspect of the proposal New Yorkers did not whole-heartedly agree with was the economic angle. The Super Bowl would bring an estimated $550 million to the local economy, which nobody complained about, but several people believe that money is needed more in other areas of the country.
“Although New York has been hit hard by the recession, other states are in much worse shape,” Liz Brock said. “If the NFL has a social conscience, why not play the Super Bowl in Detroit or Cleveland, somewhere that really needs the money?”