New Meadowlands Stadium head working 2014 SB bid

The head of the new Meadowlands Stadium thinks Arizona’s decision not to bid on the 2014 Super Bowl doesn’t necessarily make the future home of the Giants and Jets the favorite to land the NFL title game.

Mark Lamping said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Friday night that The New Meadowlands Stadium Companies is concentrating solely on presenting a solid bid to the league by the April 1 deadline.

“All we are focusing on now is making the best possible proposal we can,” said Lamping, the president and chief executive of the New Meadowlands Companies. “The number of cities bidding against us is not important. We’re working diligently on putting together the bid and we’re confident we’ll make a compelling bid.”

The Jets and Giants will start play in their new 82,500-seat, $1.6 billion stadium this season.

Miami and Tampa also plan to present bids for the game. League owners will award the game at their annual meeting in May.

If the new stadium wins out, it would set the stage for the first cold weather Super Bowl, which is what one would expect from a title game in February in northern New Jersey.

The NFL gave the Giants and Jets the right to bid on the Super Bowl game in December despite the traditional requirement that host regions have a minimum temperature of 50 degrees or stadiums with domes or retractable roofs.

The new stadium does not have a retractable roof.

The committee gave approval with the understanding that the bid represents a unique opportunity to celebrate the new stadium and the great heritage of the NFL in the New York region.

There have been several remarkable cold-weather title games. The Giants beat the Packers 23-20 in overtime in the NFC title game on Jan. 21, 2008, in Green Bay, Wis., with the temperatures at minus-3 degrees — and a wind chill of minus-24.

Cincinnati beat San Diego 27-7 in the 1981 AFC title game known as the Freezer Bowl. The temperature in Ohio was minus-9, with 35 mph winds making it feel like minus-59.

The one almost everyone remembers is the 1967 NFL title game known as the Ice Bowl in Green Bay. The Packers beat Dallas 21-17 in a game played with the temperature at minus-13 and a wind chill of minus-48.

Lamping said one of the interesting parts of the bid is that the two teams playing in the 2014 Super Bowl would train at the Giants and Jets’ training facilities in New Jersey, in East Rutherford and Florham Park, respectively.

“Not only would they have state-of-the-art training facilities, but both teams going to the stadium will have two state-of-the-art locker rooms which they can enjoy equally.”

Highlights of the new stadium include four massive HD video display boards in each of the corners; a ribbon board that circles the interior bowl; HD monitors throughout the stadium; and 20 HD video pylons.

Outside the stadium, a 350,000-square-foot outdoor plaza will offer fan activities and pregame entertainment zones. A signature amenity will be a new rail line that drops off passengers in front of the stadium.

The new stadium will be the first constructed to serve as the home stadium of two NFL teams. It also holds the distinction of being the largest privately financed stadium in U.S. history.

The Super Bowl would join an impressive list of events scheduled for the new stadium, including college football matchups of Navy vs. Notre Dame and Army vs. Rutgers, and stops on the Bon Jovi and U2 world concert tours.