Joe Flacco might just be right. Having a Super bowl in New York IS retarded.

The game now takes place in the DEAD of winter in the Northeast. It’s a total roll of the dice in an open air stadium.  From a fan and media perspective it would be a mixed bag. For the media workers it’ll be great. They will think back to the horrible two weeks they spent in Detroit and thank the gods it’s in beautiful New York City.

Bad Weather Possibilities for Fans AT THE GAME

For the people at the stadium though? You face the possibility of a nightmare or a tolerable 40 degree night. It could happen either way. The tolerable 40 degree night will make no difference in fan participation for the game. If it’s much worse it may prove embarrassing because anyone who has been to a Super Bowl already or is a VIP may just decide to split. Word of the nightmare that is the Meadowlands parking lot will surely get around. In a blow out game the league could look awful because more than 1/3 of all fans will leave.

If the weather is terrible, at least 30% chance, the game will need to be good to keep people in the stadium. I have been to dozens of Jets games and concerts at the old stadium. If MetLife Stadium is anything like the original Giants Stadium it will be a windy nightmare. How windy is it at that location? If you’re in the stadium on the shade side you can’t wear shorts if it’s as warm as 70 degrees. It always feels 5-20 degrees colder depending on where you are. For a Super bowl it would be well past dusk for the opening kick. Because it’s an open air environment the military fly over will be great and better fireworks possibilities will exist.

IF IT SNOWS-

Accumulations in the stadium will lead to extra cute pictures of the fans having fun with the snow. Then it will likely turn ugly when friendly snowball fights turn real. A snowball builds up sufficient velocity to inflict serious injury in a stadium. This is

because when a snowball is thrown in that environment an unanticipated downward angle seriously affects its trajectory and it ends up dropping 25 feet vertically. You wouldn’t think of that unless you’ve experienced it firsthand. It’s dangerous and scary. Look for the story to be about injured fans no matter who wins. A snowball that reaches terminal velocity in the likely scenario it would miss its target and drop onto the fans in the lower level might even kill someone. No Kidding. In an ugly incident in the 1990’s the stadium was left filled with snow several inches deep. This is beyond rude and dangerous to the fans and the crowd was understandably ugly. It may have been when alcohol was available into the 3^rd quarter. A visiting team coach was struck in the face with an icy snowball and lost his sight. So this is no joke. Only a problem if it snows heavily immediately before and during the game. They can clean the snow out of the stadium in about 3 -5 hours if it’s empty. If it snows while the crowd is inside there will be repeated announcements NOT to throw snowballs. This will likely lead to a lot of ejections.

Arrests of Players and Fans-

Setting loose an NFL team in New York City for a weeklong party? People will get hurt and also arrested.  This is the temptation capital of the world. There will be so many ways to get in trouble it will make the Atlanta Super bowl of 2000 look tame and boring from a legal perspective.  A fight in a strip club inevitable. At least 3 players will be arrested. At least one will be charged with a felony.

At the game arrests are also possible. New Jersey State Troopers, or as we Jets fans call them the “The Karl Lagerfeld Police” because of their ridiculous and unapologetically Nazi-like uniforms. The local legend states that they were designed by the same guy who actually went on to make those snappy German military uniforms that make them such cool bad guys in every movie. For the NJ trooper uniform Hugo Boss or whoever had a bad day. Their sky blue jackets are repulsively ugly. They are literally jackbooted thugs who answer to God alone. They mercilessly prowl the stadium arresting as many people as possible and then preying on the fans leaving to make a lot of DWI arrests. That said the part about Drinking and Driving is your fault and you deserve to get caught, but it makes you see how opportunistic and predatory the Jersey troopers are. They are dicks. Horror stories abound! To be fair though it’s one of the safest stadiums in the world under ordinary game day conditions.  Remember though- they are really militaristic and live to throw people in jail. New Jersey is known for harsh sentencing. You could see someone get into a LOT of trouble. If it’s on a mass scale and dozens are arrested this will overshadow the game.

Bad Weather Possibilities for the fan WATCHING ON TV-

Your game experience will not be any different. It may in fact be enhanced. What if two Dome Teams meet in the outdoor February air in a wind tunnel of a stadium? What if it was a dome team against a cold weather open air team like Green Bay or either New York team?  This has a great possibility for being a great game day story. Its initial lifespan would begin 5 days before the game when reliable weather projections become available. Unless you’re mentally prepared and properly dressed nothing will keep you in your seat.

For the League-

This is probably scaring the shit out of Roger Goodell and the NFL head honcho’s. There’s so much more to lose at the New York Super bowl than there is to gain. They are holding the media event of the year in the middle of the media capital of the world. Super focus on everything for the entire week running up to the game will be a nightmare for the league. They will sweat it out every day till it’s over.

Postponed-

This could really happen. If it’s impossible to drive or tolerate the 5 or so hours outside you need to absorb to watch a game the idea of postponement looms large.

Re-scheduled for earlier-

The league would be wise, very, very wise, to kick no later 3:30 pm. The sun will be up for the first hour of the game and it will minimize the suffering of the fans (they will truly suffer if the game much past dusk).

If the worst of all scenario’s- freezing rain goes down people will hide on the concourse and again the league will look bad. However bad weather CAN produce great football so the TV fan can still win by getting a great game out of this.  If it’s a blow out everyone will leave and the fans at home will leave the game on lamenting the score and the fact that they never would have left any Super bowl early.

Keep in mind the majority of people at the game are simply rich or VIP’s. Their motivation to suffer through a really bad New York winter night is justifiably in question. Many may well just not even show up.