The decision to play the Super Bowl in the potentially frigid air of North Jersey in February 2014 has prompted other cold-weather cities to consider the possibility of scoring a cold-weather game of their own. The outside-the-box maneuver by the league also has prompted a certain West Coast team to ponder hosting the big game, too.
According to Bob Glauber of Newsday, Raiders CEO Amy Trask said that Oakland will pursue a Super Bowl if/when it gets a new stadium.
“I think Oakland would absolutely be a terrific site for a future Super Bowl and we’re working closely with the city and the county and all sorts of exciting ideas with a new Bay Area stadium,” Trask said.
Though she didn’t elaborate on whether “a new Bay Area stadium” would be the only new Bay Area stadium, some believe that the 49ers and Raiders could share a venue, possibly in Oakland.
“We like the site of our existing stadium,” Trask said. “It’s very centrally located in the Bay Area as a whole. It’s on a freeway, and there are two public transport options that drop off right at the stadium. Where other stadiums are trying to figure out how to bring public transportation to their site, the Oakland site has [Bay Area Rapid Transit], Amtrak, and the Altamont Commuter Express.”
The 49ers currently are exploring the construction of a stadium in Santa Clara. Some believe that the proposal ultimately won’t work unless both teams play there. And the Raiders by all appearances want to play in Oakland.
In the end, the carrot of a Super Bowl could help nail down public funding for a new stadium, given the dramatic financial impact of the NFL’s title game. The NFL last played a Super Bowl in the Bay Area in 1985, when the 49ers beat the Dolphins at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto. (That night, the low temperature in North Jersey was 14 degrees below zero. Just sayin’.)
So how strongly does Trask feel about the Bay Area as a site for a future Super Bowl? Asked for her views on the process that resulted in Super Bowl XLVIII being awarded to New York/New Jersey, Trask told Glauber, “I voted for Oakland as a write-in candidate.”
She was joking. We think.