When will the Super Bowl be Back?
(January 30, 2001)

While the postmortems continue on Super Bowl XXXV, by most accounts, the game went extremely well in Tampa Bay. After being unseasonably cool, game weekend featured chamber of commerce type weather. That is a plus, as an ice storm in Atlanta last year did not help their future bids. Having the annual Gasparilla Pirate Fest on the Saturday before the game made it the biggest weekend in the history of the Tampa Bay area. The results of hosting two huge events on the same weekend may have been a mixed bag.

In the largest American sporting event, Gasparilla brought a level of excitement that may have been the pinnacle for the Super Bowl. Unless New Orleans decides to change the date of Mardi Gras to coincide with the Super Bowl, which it is safe to say will not happen, it may be impossible for any host city to duplicate the spirit of "Super Gasparilla." Tampa Bay can be extremely proud of the show they put on. The uniqueness of the pirate invasion. The enthusiasm for the parade. MacDill Air Force Base chipped in with an air show at the same time. Stealth bombers, old biplanes and the Thunderbirds only heightened the experience. The down side was the logistics of having nearly 750,000 people attending Saturday's event, obviously traffic became a problem. There are already suggestions of not holding Gasparilla on the same weekend of any future Super Bowls.

At this time, no one can answer the question posed by the headline of this article. When will the Super Bowl be Back? The Tampa Bay area has been fortunate to host three Super Bowls. Only New Orleans, Miami and Pasadena have held more. New Orleans will become the first city to play host nine times next season, Miami has had the game eight times and five times it has been to Pasadena. San Diego will host its third game two years from now.

The Super Bowl rotation used to be fairly simple: Miami, New Orleans, Pasadena. Tampa Bay sort of broke the old rotation by hosting Super Bowl XVIII and the bidding has escalated ever since. At one owners meeting in the 1980s, it took over two days for fourteen cities to make presentations. The traditional sites will continue to get games and the Super Bowl is now a reward to communities that build new stadiums. Cities are willing to go to great lengths to stage the event.

Common sense would dictate another ten years before Tampa Bay has any chance to host the game. The next five sites have been awarded, up to Super Bowl XL. After New Orleans and San Diego, the game will go to a new stadium in Houston, then Jacksonville for the first time and a new stadium in Detroit. Miami would seem the logical choice for Super Bowl XLI. By then, New Orleans, San Diego and Atlanta would be in the running again. That would take it to Super Bowl XLV. Every year, as more new stadiums are built and other first time sites get the game, it becomes more difficult to land the game.

While basking in the glow of hosting the most recent Super Bowl, it is difficult to imagine the game not making a return visit. Get the task force together, and be prepared to mortgage the city, and the next Super Bowl should come before it is a reward for replacing the aging Raymond James Stadium. Okay, here's my prediction. Tampa Bay will not get the Olympics in 2012, but will host Super Bowl XLVI that year.