Anyone going to the Superbowl?
 

Just wondering if anyone was making the trip. I live here and we can't decide if we should go downtown or not. Anyone know of any good bar parties? Sadly, we don't have tickets to the big game.

I know how you feel. Big game in your city and it's almost impossible to get tickets. All you can do is enjoy the great weather and watch the game on tv..blue skies and warm temps. At least that's how it was in San Diego.

Well, this year it is in Detroit, so gray skies and cold temps will be more like it.

Not that I'm criticizing the NFL for holding the Super Bowl in cold climates rather than in beautiful San Diego where, we have been assured, it will never be held again until we build a new stadium for the Spanos family's hobby. (And I'm a Charger fan!)

I seem to be missing something.

I would go if I had great seats and a fun tailgate party. Scratch that, I'd go for the fun tailgate party and skip the game.

SuperBowl Sunday is a huge event in my circle of friends.It is the ONLY time of the year that some of them actually prepare a food item for our contest/exhibition....So fare it's been held at my place cuz I have the most room...Everybody brings something and we hand out trophies/prizes.And of course the spread is great and we eat all day long.

I know there are business reasons for choosing certain sites for SuperBowl - but last 2 cities have left me wondering about who is making decision.

Son and husband went to last year's in Jacksonville (trip of a lifetime, paid an outrageous amount for bad seats; but son is in college in Savannah and is nuts for Patriots so they did it as day trip - no regrets)

But Jacksonville was way too small a city to host something this big. And Detroit is way too cold, not to mention it's other problems as were detailed in Sunday NY Times.

A real case could be made, as is being discussed on Boston sports radio, for a permanent location in some city such as Las Vegas where people could make it a week-long destination, and even have fun without actually attending game - sort of like baseball does with All-Star game although in rotation cities.

Lots of merit in this idea - and certainly Las Vegas is used to hosting huge crowds and entertaining them.

He's a "He".....

Good point jlm!

We have gone to many of Super Bowls and are going again this year and are looking forward to the trip. We enjoy going even when held in a cold weather city. Last time it was in Detroit (actually Pontaic then) and the time it was in Mpls. we had a great time despite cold weather. Also have had a good time in warm weather cities. It's the atmosphere and the people you are with that make it fun anywhere.

I am a Buffalo Bills fan who went to 4 Super Bowls in the early 90's. The one in the cold weather city (Minneapolis) was the best (not the game, but the city). The worst one was Pasadena, where they didn't seem to know that a Super Bowl was going on. In Minneapolis they rolled out the red carpet and did a great job of hosting a great weekend.

I live 16 miles west of Pittsburgh and know I'll be sick of hearing about the Super Bowl in about one week. Detroit? No I'll stay here in Pittsburgh, same type of weather.

Stephanie, you're obviously not a football fan. (not that there's anything wrong with that). This is a great time for fans of the Super Bowl teams, it doesn't happen that often.

A permanant game site is an iteresting idea. It would make things like hotels and parties easier go much smoother.

But I like the idea of spreading the wealth. This Superbowl is going to bring in tons of money for Detroit (probably most of it going to the mayor's relatives (insert eyerolling smiley here)). And it has really made the city clean up and open new businesses.

The reason we have it at all is because of the new stadium. The NFL promised a Superbowl if the Lions would build a new stadium. Plus the Ford family's advertising dollars don't always fall on deaf ears (hence us keeping the Thanksgiving game even though the product has been subpar).

So welcome to all the people that are coming. Detroit most definitly does have its problems. Probably half of the city is filled with darkened abandoned buildings. At night it looks like a black out. Hopefully they are screwing in a few light bulbs and turning the power back on before the media gets here.

But back to my original question, anyone know of any good public tailgates going on?

And Intrepid, I wish I had your kind of time on my hands!

KathyK, I agree with you. We have found some of the smaller cities have done a great job of welcoming Super Bowl fans and we also loved it when in Mpls. I live in S. CA so didn't really get the same feeling for the Super Bowl as when we go out of town so didn't notice it as much in Pasadena but friends of ours who came out for the games there also said the same thing - it was just another game to Pasadena and LA Area. I am sure Detroit will do a good job as they are eager to show the good things about their area to the crowd coming in for the game. Will let you know after its over.

Story in NYTimes spoke of downtown sprucing up in honor of SuperBowl and residents hope that it was not temporary - everything from boarding being removed from windows and being replaced by glass to some shops opening.

When I spoke of Jacksonville, which is a lovely city, it had to do with infrastructure insufficiencies, transportation issues, lack of restaurants, hotels, etc. Son and husband waited 3 hours in irate, drunken and increasingly scary crowd for shuttle bus back to remote and required parking area.

If hosting SuperBowl in rotating cities actually brings good things to that city that last past the week of the event and do not cost the city more than they bring, than I rescind my suggestion for permanent site.

Am wondering, in similar vein, how residents of Olympic host cities feel 5-10 years after event - wonder if those in Lake Placid feel Olympics was a net positive or negative (have never been there, so I certainly won't vote!)

Okay, dumb question--is the SB this Sunday, the 29th? or Sunday, Feb 5th??

The 5th, although it's not a dumb question at all. Sometimes there's only a week between the conference championship games and the Superbowl, and sometimes there's two weeks. I wonder if the auto show influenced their decision this year?

MT...There is always 2 weeks between conference championships and SuperBowl.Since 2002, SBS is the first Sunday in February.

Cali, if you live in S. California, you must have noticed that when the Super Bowl has been in San Diego, everyone had a GREAT time, the city went out of its way to accomodate the NFL's wants and it was not "just another game". Many observers suggested that it should always be here. I do not believe there's a great financial benefit to a city exists, I think it costs cities a lot and pretty much all the city gets is a lot of "free" televison exposure'

When you consider a "permanent" home for the Super Bowl, you also have to consider who will pay for the stadium, because the NFL certainly won't. Cities which already have NFL teams are becoming less and less willing to spend many millions of taxpayer dollars building stadiums for multi-millionaire team owners.

So what city is going to build a stadium that would be used once a year? And you will argue that it can be used for concerts, etc the other eleven and a half months of the year. Good luck. That still won't come close to paying for it and it will be out of date before you know it. Then the NFL will demand millions of dollars worth of improvements.

Bottom line is, a "permanent" place just isn't financially feasible.

I live in a suburb of Detroit and I would just like to remind everyone that Detroiters are working very hard to show everyone coming to our city for the Super Bowl a good time. We can't do anything about the weather - it is what it is. It will be very comfortable inside Ford Field!!!

Detroiters are excited to be hosting Super Bowl XL. We will do our best. It's a big city, but we are nice people and this is our home -- we like it.
Anyway, I hope people will be open minded and enjoy the good things Detroit has to offer.

Beachboi - I think there was not a week inbetween SuperBowl and last playoff game last year.

Isn't there usually at least one week off? That's what I'm remmembering.

Super Bowl is a trophy promised by the NFL and awarded X# of times if a city builds a stadium. Thus Detroit, JAX, Tampa (among others).

We loved hosting it in Tampa. The city was thrilled at the opportunity to showcase itself. Even changed Gasparilla to coincide...a biiiig mistake, IMHO. Traffic was a nightmare despite their best efforts to have a plan in place by game date, and I'm afraid most cities would have an issue with that. The crowds were enormous. We wanted the game sooo badly, and wanted so badly for everything to be perfect. I hope those attending had as good a time as the city had putting it on.

<i>Ick</i> to the idea of putting it in Las Vegas every year, by the way. :(

Ususally there are two weeks between the conference championship games, but not always. For our first Buffalo Super Bowl, in January 1991, there was only one week, and it made planning for the trip difficult.

Also from a &quot;burb&quot; of Detroit -- alot is happening getting ready ... the North American Auto Show just wrapped in Cobo Hall (that was a great by the way!) and are turning Cobo into a NFL Experience. Many events happening in and around the area -- local word has many celebs are flying their own jets into Windsor / Oakland airports. Great pre-game concert with local Motown artist, Stevie Wonder etc, (Areatha singing national anthem) and the Rolling Stones performing at halftime.

After the auto show we took the People Mover Monorail around -- the City is looking great -- it should be a great party! Detroit has played hosts to a few big events (Ryder Cup -- I was a volunteer that was fun even though we lost -- and 2005 All-Star game).

Barbara, yes we did have a great time in San Diego and your wonderful city did a great job. Unfortunately, we didn't spend as much time there as we do in other Super Bowl Cities as we just stayed home and went down the day before and stayed for 2 days. When the games are farther away we go for a whole week so get the whole experience. We usually get feedback on the cities from friends who fly in to go with us and who don't live in those cities. I just felt we had as much fun or more in the cold weather cities as in the warm weather cities. Think they tried very hard because they knew some people would complain. Loved San Diego tho. Also, do remember when Super Bowl was in Pontiac (Detroit) several years ago they did make stores and bars, etc. out of closed stores in the downtown area and it was fun and felt very safe. Unfortunately, most of those places did not last after the Super Bowl.

Miss Maple, you are correct that Detroit is trying very hard when they host many events. We went to the Ryder Cup and had a great time - although it was in Oakland County is still in the Greater Detroit Area. I am sure we will have a wonderful time at the Super Bowl too - we are looking forward to our trip to your city.