Despite all the preparations, it appears that the Dallas bid won the right to host the 2011 Superbowl. Although, I understand that there is a strong football tradition in Dallas and in Texas in general, I don’t think that a football tradition really matters much when it comes to the Superbowl, which is less and less about football and more and more about parties, media days, and advertising. The bottom line is that the NFL’s decision was based entirely on money and had virtually nothing to do with football, which truly bothers me as a fan.

Though, perhaps I should also be upset with the media. They lambasted the NFL’s decision to reward smaller markets like Jacksonville and northern markets like Detroit who have recently hosted Superbowls. Today on ESPN’s FirstTake, Skip Bayless claimed that the Superbowl should be a ‘reward’ for the players and said that as such it should be played in San Diego, Miami, New Orleans, or Honolulu.

Personally, I think that’s what the Pro Bowl is for and that the Superbowl should be a reward for the fans. Maybe I’m just biased since I’m not a part of the media elite that gets to go to the Superbowl every year. As a reward for the fans, I think it is important to make it accessible to the fans. This should mean that it goes to new cities as often as it has been over the last several years. Of course, Dallas has never hosted a Superbowl, so I can’t really be too upset on this criteria.

However, the one thing that really bothers me is that smaller markets have a lot of trouble building stadiums that can compete with larger markets. For example, the new Lucas Oil Stadium will cost $675 million and would be able to seat roughly 70,000 for a Superbowl. However, the new Dallas Stadium is now estimated to cost $1 billion and will be expandable to roughly 100,000 seats for a Superbowl. That’s 30,000 more seats at 500-1,000 bucks per occupant. This sort of disparity makes it very difficult for a smaller markets to build new stadiums. In fact, I would be willing to bet that Indy would never have been financially able to build this stadium without their pull in hosting NCAA Final Fours.

This is seriously detrimental to the league as a whole. Although the NFL can adopt revenue-sharing policies, it is almost certainly impossible to properly compensate the NFL cities for the lost revenue from a Superbowl. This revenue is commonly used in discussions as to how a city can help pay for a new stadium. Over the course of that one weekend, millions of dollars would flow through the city.

Every time a small market tries to build a stadium and uses the promise of hosting a Superbowl, but then fails to deliver on that promise the chances of that team’s owner pushing for a move to a larger media market increase. While this might make good business sense, it is devastating to the fans. Anyone from Indy or Baltimore should be particularly aware of just how possible this reality is, particularly with Los Angeles in the perpetual hunt for an NFL franchise.

Overall though, the NFL has done well in the past with regard to these decisions, but it remains to be seen how the small market – large market battle plays out under Goodell. Houston, Jacksonville, Detroit and Arizona have all built new stadiums and been able to host a Superbowl within a decade after building them. Kansas City and Indianapolis are the two small market teams hoping to host a Superbowl in their new stadiums in the coming decade, but I think it’s safe to say that as their stadiums get older it will be harder and harder for them to win the bid. The next four years will see Arizona (1st), Tampa Bay (4th), Miami (9th), and Dallas (1st) host the Superbowl. There are certainly those who want to see the interests of the small market protected, but I think the reality is (ironically) best stated in an article from the Dallas Morning News, which said:

But is there enough support from the small markets to deny North Texas? The winning bid requires 75 percent of the vote. After two ballots, the low vote-getter is eliminated. After three ballots, a fourth ballot would require just a simple majority.

There are 32 votes. Most of the NFL owners are successful businessmen. When money talks, they listen – and no one in the NFL talks money better than Jerry Jones.