Is the New Dallas Stadium About to be Super?

In one week, the NFL will decide who will be the host site of Super Bowl XLV ... the game that will end the 2010 season [being played in February 2011]. Right now, North Texas looks to be a very attractive site to win that game. The New Dallas Cowboys Stadium will be quite the marvel befitting of America's Team. The new stadium is scheduled to open in 2009 and house 80,000 seats with possible expansion to 100,000 ... making it the largest NFL home field. While it will have the symbolic hole in the roof, that hole can be covered up with a retractable roof which is what the NFL is looking for in it's non-SoCal and Florida Super Bowl sites.

Dallas' main competitor will be the new Indianapolis Colts venue, Lucas Oil Stadium, which should be completed in 2008. The earlier opening could be a slight advantage to Indy, though it will seat less than the new Dallas stadium. Lucas Oil Stadium will also have a retractable roof and has the same "new Super City" feel that Dallas has. One weird knock against Indianapolis could be the Colts. Indy is the defending Super Bowl champion with QB Peyton Manning still in his prime. While things change, Indy should still be a title contender for a few more years. That could scare off the committee a bit from possibly giving the Colts a home field advantage for the Super Bowl [no team has played the Super Bowl at it's home stadium].

Another advantage for Dallas is that, well, it is Dallas. Nothing against Indianapolis [which is a great city], but having that Texas pull and more stuff to do could get the NFL's attention. To be honest, both sites will/should be hosting a Super Bowl soon. The question is who gets it first.

The third site is Glendale, Arizona. It is a great place for the Super Bowl to go and it is the only bidding stadium to currently exist, but the knock will be that the University of Phoenix Stadium will be hosting Super Bowl XLII next February. The NFL may feel it's just a smidge to soon to go back just three years later ... or maybe not. Super Bowls XLIII and XLIV will be played in Tampa and Miami, respectively, with Miami getting the game just three years after their last one [which was this past winter].