Super Bowl Domination

Chapter 459 The world is in turmoil
In fact, it can be seen from the treatment Levi received when he returned to New York that even though he had never played any game for the New York team, people still cheered and applauded him because Levi eliminated Brady and the New England Patriots.

It turns out, it's not just New York.

The entire league is waiting, waiting for a new face, waiting for a new idol, waiting for a superhero to emerge like Captain America, breaking the monopoly of the New England Patriots and completely subverting and rewriting the league's landscape.

This is the most exciting and wonderful part of the NFL.

People, be prepared.

In fact, it is more than just being prepared. To be more precise, people have been eagerly looking forward to it, eagerly anticipating it, and anxiously waiting.

This day has finally arrived.

and so.

This is not a disaster, on the contrary, it is a carnival, the starting point of a new era, and a turning point where a long drought is followed by a downpour.

Brady: Are you polite?

But at this moment, no one cares about Brady, and no one cares about Belichick and the New England Patriots. They can finally take off their masks and laugh and celebrate.

As soon as the Pro Bowl weekend ended, there was still a whole week before the official opening of the Super Bowl. Reporters and fans from all over North America and around the world had already rushed to the party and flocked to Minneapolis, the venue for this year's Super Bowl.

Otherwise, if you are a little slower, you might not even be able to find a motel room and end up on the streets, which would be a small matter, but missing out on the carnival with other football fans would be a big regret.

This year, the NFL brought the Super Bowl to Minneapolis, Minnesota.

This is an attempt.

Generally speaking, the NFL tends to hold the Super Bowl in cities in the south close to the equator, such as New Orleans, Miami, Atlanta, Los Angeles, etc.

The root cause lies in interests.

Every year, the Super Bowl is held in late January and early February in the northern hemisphere. It is winter, a bitterly cold winter, and the low temperatures often make football games difficult. If there is heavy rain or snow, football's smooth passing offense will have no room to play, and the game may be even uglier.

This is not good for ratings.

After all, this isn't just any game we're talking about, this is the Super Bowl.

During the 52nd Super Bowl, advertising costs during the game soared to US$5 million per thirty seconds, once again setting a new record for global commercial advertising costs.

In other words, any slight fluctuation in ratings can have a direct impact of millions or even tens of millions of dollars.

No one wants to suffer such a huge loss.

then.

In order to ensure ratings, the NFL still prefers to hold the Super Bowl in cities close to the equator.

However, the result is that all cities located in the northern part of the North American continent have been ignored, which is equivalent to being deprived of the potential right to host the Super Bowl. Small ball cities such as Green Bay, Foxburg, Buffalo, etc. are completely not on the list, and these cities naturally have opinions.

Like the World Cup and the Olympics, the city hosting the Super Bowl will also welcome a large number of tourists.

From a traditional sports tourism perspective, short-term events can undermine travelers’ willingness to travel long distances, but the Super Bowl is a unique counterexample.

The event only lasts one day, or to be more precise, only four hours per game, but the appeal of the Super Bowl is among the best in the world. Take last year as an example.

The 51st Super Bowl was held in Houston. The event attracted 1.5 million tourists in just five days and brought $700 million in revenue to Houston.

Numbers are the most intuitive. Not only the host city, but also large companies in the hotel, catering, transportation, retail and other industries cannot refuse such an event. The state government where the city is located also often strongly supports it, expecting the Super Bowl to boost the economy.

Just like the Chinese Lunar New Year Gala, no matter what the quality of the program is, the attention remains high, because watching and complaining about the Spring Festival Gala has become a ritual, and the content of the Spring Festival Gala itself has become secondary and no longer important, thus forming a new cultural ritual of the Spring Festival.

The same thing goes for the Super Bowl.

Taking last year as an example, the New England Patriots were clearly not the favorites of Americans, and the Atlanta Falcons were not the leading team among fans either, but this did not affect the Super Bowl's ratings and discussion heat, which reached new highs across the board.

After the game, ESPN conducted a random survey, which showed that 39% of the audience were keen on watching the ads and movie trailers for this year's Super Bowl, while only 28% of the audience really thought the game was exciting. In addition, more than 40% of the respondents said they didn't care about the outcome of the game or who won the championship.

In other words, the Super Bowl is also becoming a cultural ritual, and the surrounding economic effects centered on it are far beyond imagination.

It is conceivable that when the league again and again locked the Super Bowl venue in a southern city, there were many protests from northern cities.

then.

The league is also constantly searching for a balance.

The world is bustling with people seeking profit, so people cheer for the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs to meet in the Super Bowl.

The world is full of people seeking profit, so this year's Super Bowl came to the northern city of Minneapolis.

This is the core essence of the professional league.

Wait, what about the weather?

Don’t worry, the U.S. Bank Stadium, which was just opened in 2016, is an indoor stadium!
Although the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs are unable to travel to the warm Caribbean coast to play, they will still have a strong clash in a stable and comfortable environment. The weather factor in the playoffs will be completely eliminated, but it is unknown which team will be more advantageous.

This year is the first time that U.S. Bank Stadium will host the Super Bowl, but who knows, will Minneapolis become a mecca for hosting multiple Super Bowls in the future like Phoenix, New Orleans and Miami?
For Minneapolis, it's a good thing, a happy thing, and a celebration, and the noise is already building a week before the Super Bowl; but for the Minnesota Vikings, things...seem to be wrong.

The reason is——

Home curse.

In the half-century history of the Super Bowl, the team from the host city of the Super Bowl has been unable to enter the Super Bowl every year. No team has been able to break this curse in the past fifty-one years. This is a strange curse that is puzzling but can never be broken.

This year is no exception.

In the NFC finals, the Minnesota Vikings, who had emerged as a dark horse this season, were defeated by the Philadelphia Eagles despite being favored, and were eliminated, continuing the Super Bowl home curse. Unfortunately, they missed their best chance to win the Super Bowl championship at home amid the cheers of Minneapolis fans.

then.

According to the rules, based on the time of the Super Bowl, the home field of the AFC team is in even-numbered years, and the home field of the NFC team is in odd-numbered years. This year, the team with the home field advantage in the Super Bowl is:

Kansas Chiefs.

(End of this chapter)