The NFL made a wee bit of a splash this past week by awarding the 2014 Super Bowl to the new open-air Meadowlands stadium.
We suspect that Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini may have quietly applauded the decision to play the most important game in the sport at a cold-weather venue that has no dome.
Speaking ahead of the annual Big 12 meetings that could be the most important in the conference’s history, Pelini had an answer for those who would like to make the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium -- site of the 2009 and 2010 title game -- the permanent home for the league’s championship.
“Bring on the elements,” Pelini told the Lincoln Journal Star, obviously referring to Kansas City staying as part of the rotation.
The past six years, the title game has rotated amongst both North and South sites, with Arrowhead Stadium serving as the North venue in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2008. That, however, could very well change in the very near future.
Nebraska chancellor Harvey Perlman told the Journal Star that the Big 12 board of directors has authorized commissioner Dan Beebe to begin negotiations with Jerry Jones’ Ode to Excess on a three-year extension that would keep the game in Arlington through 2013.
Even as UN athletic director Tom Osborne fears that with an extension will come “a push to have it there permanently,” Perlman said that’s not the plan heading into the talks.
“How we balance off the advantages of the venues against geographic and divisional location is something I think we should examine on a continuing basis without fixing a permanent site,” Perlman told the paper via email. “And all of this seems to me should be driven by the fan experience -- I do not think that there is much, if any, ‘competitive advantage’ from one site to the other.”
You can rest assured that neither Osborne nor Pelini will not be pleased with this development, and it will serve as Reason No. 1,247 why the Cornhuskers will likely jump if offered an opportunity to bolt their current conference for the Big 10.