With the Super Bowl heading to a cold-weather site in 2014, other places where the weather in February is closer to winter than summer also are showing interest in luring the league to town for the biggest event of the year.
Seattle remains among that group.
Bill Swartz of 710 ESPN, via seattlepi.com, reports that the Seahawks and the Seattle Sports Commission have teamed up to make a submission to the league’s Super Bowl Advisory Committee.
The committee will review the application and, if CenturyLink Field is deemed to be a viable host, the Seahawks could be invited to submit an official bid.
Challenges beyond the weather include the lack of hotel space, with only 12,750 rooms in downtown Seattle. The league wants at least 25,000 rooms to be available within one hour of the stadium.
We like the idea of the Super Bowl being played in non-traditional cities. The league surely likes it, too; by expanding beyond a tight rotation, the league is certain to get more and more proposals that are more and more financially favorable to the NFL.
It’s amazing that it took the league more than 40 years to figure that out.
UPDATE 11:45 p.m. ET: The Seahawks say they’re not pursuing a bid to host the Super Bowl. But that’s not what 710 ESPN has reported. Until the team directly states that the 710 ESPN report is false, it will appear that the team is splitting hairs.