Minneapolis beat New Orleans in a bid to host Super Bowl 52 in 2018. Pundits called it an upset, shocker, stunner and plenty of other adjectives, but Sporting News says it was anything but.
In fact, columnist Dan Muren called it a “slam dunk.”
Yes, The Big Easy makes hosting the Super Bowl look easy considering they’ve successfully (barring a 30-minute blackout inside the Superdome in 2012) hosted the Super Bowl on 10 previous occasions. The city is really good at it, but Minnesota got what it deserved.
Why? Because the Minnesota Vikings got a deal done to build what members of Minneapolis’ bid committee called the “most epically iconic structure in our state.”
Muren thinks the choice was obvious.
Hello? Have you not been paying attention? Shiny new stadiums work wonders for teams seeking to be Super Bowl hosts. Ask the Dallas Cowboys, New York Jets and Giants, Arizona Cardinals and Indianapolis Colts. Those five teams play in four stadiums built over the past decade. Each of those facilities were Super Bowl sites.
The 2016 Super Bowl, that’s Super Bowl L (52), will be played at another shiny new stadium in San Francisco.
Good for Minnesota on this victory, which one New Orleans newspaper man thought was one of the biggest upsets in NFL history.
“The decision by NFL owners to award the 2018 Super Bowl to Minneapolis is the biggest upset since Joe Namath and the New York Jets stunned the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III,” said Jeff Duncan, columnist for The Times-Picayune wrote.
Upsets? This is Minnesota. A place where football fans know all about upsets. Cue the Gary Anderson tape (begins at 1:58 of the video).
