IRVING, Texas — February. Gray skies. Snowflakes. Brrrrrrrr.
Well, grab your boots and plow the snow. The Super Bowl is coming to the Meadowlands.
In New Jersey? In the dead of winter?
“We’ll all pray that it doesn’t snow that day,” Arizona Cardinals president Michael Bidwill said.
NFL owners voted Tuesday to put the 2014 Super Bowl in the new $1.6 billion Meadowlands Stadium that this season will become home to the New York Jets and Giants. It’s the first time the league has gone to a cold weather site that doesn’t have a dome; until now, those places couldn’t even bid on the big game.
So, why the risk?
“Let’s face it,” Giants co-owner John Mara said, “there’s only one New York City.”
“We promise the greatest game in the greatest venue in the greatest city,” added another co-owner, Steve Tisch. “Now we’ve got to deliver.”
Mother Nature may have a lot to say about that.
Overtime rule on hold
IRVING, Texas — The NFL isn’t ready to expand the new overtime rule to the regular season. Commissioner Roger Goodell said Tuesday the issue was tabled during owner meetings in the Dallas area. He said the league wants to continue talking to players.
Owners voted in March to change the sudden-death rule for the playoffs. If the team that loses the coin flip immediately gives up a field goal, that team will get a chance to score either to tie or win.
Dolphins trade Smiley
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Miami Dolphins have traded guard Justin Smiley to the Jacksonville Jaguars in exchange for a draft pick. Smiley, a six-year veteran, agreed to restructure the five-year, $25 million deal he signed with Miami in 2008. The Jaguars gave up a conditional seventh-round pick in hopes that Smiley will be able to upgrade the team’s interior line.
Leftwich is frontrunner
PITTSBURGH — The competition to temporarily replace Ben Roethlisberger as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback is becoming a one-man race. Byron Leftwich is handling nearly all of the first-team snaps in practice, a strong indicator he will be the starter while Roethlisberger serves his six-game suspension for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy.
Saints’ Coleman arrested
FRANKLIN, La. — New Orleans Saints rookie linebacker Harry Coleman is facing simple battery charges stemming from an arrest over the weekend. St. Mary Parish authorities say records show that Coleman was arrested early Sunday morning by police with the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana. A woman taking calls at the Chitimacha Police Department says only the chief can discuss the arrest and he did not immediately return phone and e-mail messages.
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