Why Green Bay SHOULD NOT Want a Super Bowl in Green Bay

This article is NOT about HOTEL ROOMS.

Just throw that whole idea out the window. Because if we wanted to I believe we could build enough hotel rooms. To get the whole scope of the reason why Green Bay should not want a Super Bowl here you need to read the entire article, where we pick apart the NFL Super Bowl demands and see how it would affect Green Bay and it’s residents 

 

Every year there is talk about how we should have a Super Bowl in Green Bay. However, the excuse always used by Packer staff and I quote from Mark Murphy

“…I would love for a Super Bowl to be held at Lambeau Field – it would be great for the local community as well as the Packers. However, I think it is highly unlikely that we would ever host a Super Bowl for several reasons. First, with an open-air stadium, the weather in Green Bay in early February would be a real concern. The Super Bowl was held several years ago in New York – the first time ever that a Super Bowl was held in a northern city in an open-air stadium. I see this as a one-time event (the key factor in selecting New York was the opportunity to benefit the New York community after the 9/11 tragedy, and for providing public support for the stadium for two NFL teams), though, and not a precedent. Also, we are well below the NFL requirement for hotel rooms in the area (we have approximately 4,100 rooms in Green Bay, with a requirement of 20,000). We also only have one indoor practice facility in the area. As I discussed in the column above, the bid process for hosting a Super Bowl is very competitive, and the benefit to local communities is significant (estimates of the economic impact of hosting a Super Bowl vary from $200 million to $300 million). While we realize that hosting a Super Bowl here is a long shot, we will try to host as many home playoff games as possible.”

This answer is just plain ludicrous.

First. Roger Goodell said that if the East Rutherford, NJ Super Bowl XLVIII in 2014 went well he would look at hosting more Super Bowl in open air cold weather stadiums. The NFL stated that Super Bowl XLVIII was an experiment to open up the Super Bowl market to cities that would have never been considered previously. A direct contradiction to what Mr. Murphy states.

This makes sense. The NFL is all about leverage.

The more teams they can get to place bids the more they can demand. The NFL never used to be so greedy when it came to the Super Bowl. It wasn’t till around the 80’s or so when host cities started fighting a little harder to get the SB there.

There are 31 NFL Stadiums in the United States for 32 teams – Jets and Giants share a stadium

Here they are listed by name, city and state, home team, date opened, and roof type

Lambeau Field – Green Bay, WI – 81,435 – THE PACK – 57 – open – 13/15 and current work to the Titletown District

Arrowhead Stadium – Kansas City, MO – 76,416 – Chiefs – 1972 – open – Last renovated 14

AT&T Stadium – Arlington, TX – 80,000 – Cowboys – 09 – retractable

Bank of America Stadium – Charlotte, NC – 75,419 – Panthers – 96 – open

CenturyLink Field – Seattle, WA – 68.000 – Seahawks – 02 – open

EverBank Field – Jacksonville, FL – 67,246 – Jaguars – 95 – open

Fedex Field – Landover, MD – 82,000 – Redskins – 97 – open

FirstEnergy Stadium – Cleveland, OH – 67,431 – Browns – 99 – open

Ford Field (SB 40) – Detroit, MI – 65,000 – Lions – 02 – enclosed i.e fixed

Gillete Stadium – Foxborough, MA – 66,829 – Patroits – 02 – open

Hard Rock Stadium – Miami Gardens, FL – 65,326 – Dolphins – 87 – open – Last renovated 15/16

Heinz Field – Pittsburgh, PA – 68,400 – Steelers – 01 – open

Levis Stadium – Santa Clara, CA – 68,500 – 49ers – 14 – open

Lincoln Financial Field – Philadelphia, PA – 69,596 – Eagles – 03 – open

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (SB 1, 7)  – Los Angeles, CA – 93,607 – Rams (previously from L.A then St. Louis and back to L.A and possibly the Chargers) – 23 – open – Last renovated 16 – this is only temporary until the City of Champions Stadium in Inglewood, CA is open

Lucas Oil Stadium – Indianapolis, IN – 67,000 – Colts – 08 – retractable

M&T Bank Stadium – Baltimore, MD – 71,008 – Ravens – 98 – open

Mercedes-Benz Superdome – New Orleans, LA – 73,000 – Saints – 75 – fixed – Last renovated 15

Mercedes-Benz Stadium  – Atlanta, GA – 71,000 – Falcons – 17 – retractable (SB 53)

MetLife Stadium (SB 48) – East Rutherford, NJ – 82,500 – Jets and Giants – 10 – open

New Era Field – Orchard Park, NY – 71,608 – Bills – 73 – open – Last renovated 14

Nissan Stadium – Nashville, TN – 69, 143 – Titans – 99 – open

NRG Stadium (SB 51) – Houston, TX – 72,220 – Texans – 02 – retractable

Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum – Oakland, CA – 56,063 – Raiders – 66 – open

Paul Brown Stadium – Cincinnati, OH – 65,515 – Bengals – 00 – open

StubHub Center – Carson, CA – 30,000 – Chargers – 03 – open

Raymond James Stadium – Tampa, FL – 65,890 – Bucs – 98 – open –

Soldier Field – Chicago, IL – 61,500 – Bears – 24 – open – Last renovated in 02-03

Sports Authority Field at Mile High – Denver, CO – 76,125 – 01 – open

University of Phoenix Stadium (SB 42, 49) – Glendale, AZ – 63,400 – 06 – retractable

U.S Bank Stadium (SB 52) – Minneapolis, MN – 66,655 – 16 – fixed – hosting SB 53

Out of 31 stadiums and 32 teams there has never been a home team playing on their home turf. Two however have played in their home cities. The 9ers in SB XIX in Stanford Stadium and the L.A Rams in SB XIV at the L.A Memorial Coliseum.

Miami has hosted 11 Super Bowls – including Miami Gardens, MI – (home to Dolphins)

New Orleans has hosted 10  – (home to the Saints)

Los Angeles/Pasadena has hosted 8 (Including Ingelwood, CA)  – (once home to the Rams, Raiders and Chargers and home to the Rams and Chargers again)

Houston, TX has hosted 3 – (home of the Texans and Oilers (74))

Arlington, TX has hosted 1 – (home of the Cowboys)

Pontiac, MI / Detroit, MI has hosted 2 – (home of the Lions)

Glendale, AZ / Tempe, AZ has hosted 3 – (home of the Cardinals)

Stanford, CA / Santa Clara, CA has hosted 2 – (home of the 9ers)

Minneapolis, MN has hosted 2 – (home of the Vikings)

San Diego, CA has hosted 3 – (no current NFL team)

Tampa, FL has hosted 4 – (home to the Buccs)

Jacksonville, FL has hosted 1 – (home to the Jaguars)

Indianapolis, IN has hosted 1 – (home to the Colts)

New Jersey, NJ has hosted 1 – (home to the Giants and Jets)

Out of the proposed and past 55 Super Bowls over half have been held in New Orleans, Miami and the L.A/Pasadena/Inglewood area (29)

And in the past and future 55 Super Bowls only 6 have been held in cold weather cities and ironically the coldest one ever in history was NOT the open air NJ Super Bowl in 2014. That one was kicked off at a balmy 49 degrees.

The coldest Super Bowls were

#5 – Super Bowl XIX 85 in Palo Alto, CA 53 degrees / #4 – VIII 74 in Houston, TX 50 degrees / #3 – SB XLVIII 14 East Rutherford, NJ 49 degrees / #2 – SB IX 75 in New Orleans, LA 46 degrees / #1 – SB VI 72 in New Orleans, LA 39 degrees

So…..it seems ironic that 2 of the coldest Super Bowls in history were held in an open air stadium in one of the most southern cities in this country. In fact New Orleans has gotten as low as 19 degrees in Feb and in fact Feb is the most likely month to have snowfall.

I believe that crushes the whole cold weather issue.

Richard Sherman once complained about who would want to go to a Super Bowl in a cold weather state. They want to go somewhere they can go sit on a beach and sip Pina Coladas and enjoy 80 degree weather.

Well Sherman……No matter where you go perfect weather is not a guarantee.

Take a look at Superbowl 41 – Almost an inch of rain fell that Super Bowl Sunday and it rained from kickoff to the end of the game. In fact the NFL was freaking out because Prince was the half-time entertainment and he was going to be on stage…..in heels….with electric guitars.

So…it isn’t just about snow and cold temps folks.

But hey isn’t that what makes a game great and memorable. I mean you ask any person even non football fans (past millennials) and most will say they have heard of a little something we here in Titletown like to call “The Ice Bowl”

Here are some reasons that are stated by Packer

officials that the Super Bowl could not come to GB

Mr. Mark Murphy and in fact it was reiterated by The Packers PR department to me,

“…we are well below the NFL requirement for hotel rooms in the area (we have approximately 4,100 rooms in Green Bay, with a requirement of 20,000). We also only have one indoor practice facility in the area….”

This line is a bunch of malarkey.

Here is why.

The Packers just spent a lot of time and money buying out 34 acres of properties west of Lambeau field. Kmart, Big Lots, whatever bank was there….I can’t remember….Hardees…the good bakery, a gas station or maybe 2, there was also a little shopping complex that once held a play it again sports. They also bought the property that Cabelas now sits on.  The only property that would not sell was Krolls and I for one am glad.

Their plans include a brewery (Hinterland has already been built), an ice rink, and a hotel. So, it is not out of the realm of possibility that the Packers could build a hotel complex right there on that 34 acres property that would dramatically make a difference to the supposed large issue of Green Bay not having enough hotel rooms.

When the Super Bowl was hosted in Glendale, AZ the NFL had Super Bowl events in both Phoenix and Scottsdale. Scottsdale is 45 minutes away.

According to the demands that the NFL made to Minnesota there has to be 35% more hotel rooms than the number of stadium seats (81,435) within a 60 minute drive. That means Green Bay, Appleton, Manitowoc, Neenah, Menasha, Oshkosh, Marinette, Fond du Lac (just over by 5 minutes but comeon) all the places in door county I am sure would open up but it would have to add up to 109,937 hotel rooms.

Let us suspends all the hotel room demands because that seems to be the only sticking point everyone likes to share. Let us pretend for a moment that we do indeed have enough hotel rooms.

Let’s talk about the demands that the NFL made to

Minnesota –

Police will escort and be available to all teams owners and there will be an anti-counterfeit task force at no cost to the NFL.

Right now the Brown County Sheriffs Department does all escorting for the Green Bay Packers, visiting teams and team owners.

When I asked the Brown County Sheriff’s Department and The Packer Organization they would not give an answer about where the cost of that service would fall. Would the Packer organization have to pay for that or would it fall on the tax payers or the city/county?

They also demand that use of all Fire, EMS, Public Safety Cost, Emergency Personnel etc are at no cost to them. Well someone has to pay for it.

Next item on the list –

The NFL keeps all the money from ticket sales and parking for themselves.

This last Super Bowl in Houston – Super Bowl LI or 51 had tickets priced over $6,000 but if we figure that our ticket prices would be similar to what New Jersey’s Super Bowl tickets were at, which were $2,567 at 81,435 seats, that is an income to the NFL of $209,043,645.

Lambeau has about 3,000 parking spaces for game day customers, with more to come. They usually charge $40 a spot. For Super Bowl LI prices at NRG Stadium were $100 for a car, $200 for a limo, $250 for a mini bus and $300 for a bus. Let’s figure a median of $200, there will be a lot of cars but a lot of mini buses and buses. So 3000 parking spots at $200 is $600,000.

That gives the NFL almost 210 mill to the NFL.

Although the people who sell parking spots around the stadium should make some nice money. However, according to section K, the NFL gets 50% of all proceeds from private and public lots. I am not sure if that includes all the parking that takes place all around Lambeau but if they came over to my house demanding half I would not be a happy camper.

Now that is just plain ole greedy. They are also exempt from all state, county and municipal taxes.

Now here is where it gets interesting….

The NFL demands that they have locations for media events, and this event and that event at YOU GUESSED IT, no charge to them. One might think the best locations for those events would be the Brown County Arena and The Resch Center which are NOT owned by The Packers.

Here is another reason that well maybe The Packers

themselves do not WANT the Super Bowl here either

Lambeau has contracts to serve certain beers and sodas (which was why you didn’t see them featured in that Bud commercial with all the other teams)

The NFL demands that only beer and beverages endorsed by the NFL be served. That means bye bye Miller, bye bye Octoberfest, bye bye Black Toad…..only great big sponsored beverages are allowed.

Also, you may love the fact that we celebrate our traditional Wisconsin roots by serving foods like, booyah, pasties, cheese curds and other yummies like that. But the NFL can come in and wipe all of that from the menus for the Super Bowl and insert their own menus.

In addition, normally all proceeds from the concession stands goes to local charities. That can be upwards of $10,000 – $30,000 each year per charity. Of course they also work the stands. So for the 11 home games the Packers had the 16/17 year the concession stands could have made around $300,000 for our local charities.

The NFL demands they get all income from the concession stands wiping out a tried and true tradition in exchange for corporate greed.

 

Sorry Not Sorry

You know those awesome painted fences across from the Stadium? Yeah…according to verbiage in the NFL SB demands they could make the owners of those properties cover or paint over the fences if they so choose.

Department of WHAAATT?

The NFL requires a resolution waving all DMV fees for special licensing for up to 450 courtesy cars and shuttle buses. It cost me $75 every time I license my car. I am thinking it is a lot more for a bus, so let’s figure an average of $150 for 450 cars and buses. That equals a price tag of $67,500.

Who is planning on paying for that because the NFL is not. There are only a 3 places it can fall to. The Packers, the public or the Government. Either way it is a bum deal for Wisconsin and its residents, especially since the NFL is going to make a crap ton of money from the parking, ticket and concession sales.

Packer Pro Shop

Do you think you might stop by the Packer Pro Shop and pick up a Rodgers Jersey? WRONG! Nope the NFL takes over full control of the Pro Shop and has full discretion over what is sold in the shop. In addition, they may get the profits.

 

 

 

 

Cellular Towers

Well if NFL executive doesn’t feel like there is enough cell service or wi-fi service they can  bring in portable towers at no cost to them.

This is the FROZEN TUNDRA

So….unless there is the threat of loss of life the NFL wants to take priority over all other cities, roads, and everything in order to have any snow or ice removed by the city. So, if the Super Bowl is held here and the roads are crappy and you are late to work, you know who to blame.

Priority Flights

They demand kiosks at the airport (for free) and priority flight incoming and departure over all other flights.

Reported Income

The NFL claims that host cities can benefit with income of up to $600,000,000. However, anytime the actual numbers come out the host cities may not actually benefited. In fact it has been far less if barely. For instance, Glendale who hosted the 2015 Super Bowl lost between $579,000 and $1.25 million and when they hosted the 08 Super Bowl they lost more than $1 million. The highest I’ve seen is from the Cowboys Stadium. Jerry Jones said they ended up with $100 million. Still, who paid for the services that belonged to the city and that it still far short of what the NFL claims a host city can make.

When San Fran put in their bid for SB 50 they found out they would be stuck with a 4.8 million bill in city services.

Also keep this in mind. 

New Orleans has hosted 10 Super Bowls. This has interfered with Carnival, Krewe Du Vieux and even Mardi Gras in 2002. The NFL and the city has banned parades on both sides of the Super Bowl, forcing the organization to move the celebrations that they have celebrated since the turn of the 17th century. The NFL sucks up resources that the organization needs and the city backs up the NFL over its local organizations. When the krewes (the organization responsible to put on Mardi Gras, Carnival etc) took huge losses in 02 the city compensated them, however in 2013 the city refused to do a thing to compensate their losses or to even help what is the very essence of New Orleans. These activities pump money into the city every single year vs an organization that cares more about lining the pockets of the ultra rich team owners and commissioner.

Finally –

Many hotels will jack up their prices in order to make more money for their company, but don’t think that money will get trickled down to the workers with raises. Nope. There are reports of employees from host cities talking to reporters about their long hours without every receiving a bonus or anything in celebration of the fact that they did a good job. In all of the past Super Bowls employees of local restaurants, hotels, bars, etc have reported that they have never benefited from the increase traffic and bookings. Only the huge corporations that owned the businesses.

Just like the NFL

If I kept going on through the entire 100 + document of demands this article would be well over 10,000 words.

So, I ask you again.

Does the city of Green Bay really want the Super Bowl here?

I don’t think so.

I know after I read the NFL Demands I know I don’t want them here.

I think the corporate greed of the NFL should stay away from Northeast Wisconsin and I think the Packers believe that to.

I think the Packers know that they have a community to answer to and since they are the ONLY NFL team that has to open their books up every year they know that if a Super Bowl were to be held here and if we and in turn other cities truly saw the real cost the Super Bowl has on a stadium and on a community, no city, community or fan would want it in their city.

But then again you might just care about the cool factor and not care about The Packers, city or county taking a loss on the Super Bowl in that case my argument is moot.

But considering we lived a long time with a .5% increase in taxes to build that stadium, I care about not taking a loss.

 

 

 

 

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