John Mara wants to bring another Super Bowl to MetLife Stadium
Giants president and co-owner John Mara speaks with the media regarding the end of the season at the Quest Diagnostic Practice Center in East Rutherford, N.J., on Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2014. Credit: Andrew Theodorakis
BOCA RATON, Fla. — John Mara’s priority is getting the Giants back to the Super Bowl, but he told Newsday he also is starting to work on bringing the Super Bowl back to MetLife Stadium.
“I’ve spoken to Woody Johnson about it and yeah, we think it would make sense to try to bring it back,” the Giants’ co-owner said on Sunday. “We think it was very successful, it was great for the region, so why not have it back.”
Mara did not give a definitive timeline for when the region could be back in the Super Bowl rotation — or at least among the cities bidding for Super Bowls. He said it would take at least another five years or so before something concrete happens. The NFL already has awarded the next two Super Bowls to Houston and Minneapolis. The next available opening is Super Bowl LIII.
More important, Mara said he would need assurances that the states of New York and New Jersey along with the City of New York are all in support of the proposal. “Without that, you have no chance,” he said. That would mean waiting until the next governor of New Jersey is elected and determining his or her temperature on the subject.
“Hopefully we get the support from everybody,” he said. “You’d have to be pretty sure that you had the support before you go into this thing.”
Speaking of temperatures, weather is sure to be an issue for any MetLife Super Bowl bid. Two years ago, the league received a glorious winter’s day — “We realize we got lucky with the weather,” Mara said — but the Monday after the game, the region was battered by a snowstorm. There also were issues with public transportation to and from the game that would have to be addressed. Still, Mara is confident a push will be made to bring the big game back to MetLife Stadium at some point.
“I don’t see any reason not to try it again,” he said.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
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