The above is a screen cap from this morning's Dallas Morning News. It about sums up the current Super Bowl status.
When it was announced that the Super Bowl had been awarded to Dallas. I mean, Arlington, with all the hoopla about what a boon this would be, image-wise and economic-wise, I opined on this very blog that when the national media got a look at the new Cowboy Stadium and its humdrum location surrounded by urban blight on 2 sides, that the exposure would not result in the good press that the locals were expecting.
Well, there have been some big events in the new stadium without, as far as I've noticed, my predicted bad publicity.
Til now. With the biggest event to be held in North Texas, ever, happening tomorrow. With what is being said about Arlington, Dallas, Fort Worth and North Texas not being all that flattering.
Arlington was described in the New York Times as drab and featureless. Multiple writers have made fun of the stadium sitting across the street from a Wal-Mart.
The Ice and Snow Storms factor in to a lot of the bad publicity for North Texas.
An ESPN writer wondered what Jerry Jones did to Mother Nature's daughter.
A Denver Post columnist wondered what the North Texas Super Bowl Weather Disaster does to the NFL's long standing argument that a town like Denver can't host a Super Bowl.
I also wondered the same thing. But substituted Seattle for Denver. If tomorrow's Super Bowl was taking place in Seattle, the air would be heated to around 50 degrees. With the only snow being in the surrounding mountains. All events could take place right in Seattle's downtown. Adjacent to Seahawk Stadium is an Exhibition Hall with more display space than the demolished Kingdome. With mass transit, in the form of light rail and buses, delivering fans right to where the Super Bowl would be played, if it were played in Seattle.
A Sport Illustrated writer Twittered about the North Texas mess Tweetng, "I'm telling you: I-30 between Dallas + Fort Worth is a plow-less, snow-windswept moonscape. This is officially a debacle."
NPR's Jim Rome said, "6 inches of snow? Really, Dallas? Good luck getting another Super Bowl."
On Friday chunks of ice and snow fell from the roof of Cowboys Stadium injuring 6 people, sending some to the hospital. One, photographer Win McNamee, was hit in the shoulder by ice, breaking it in 4 places.
And now the earlier optimistic forecast for better weather on the day of the Super Bowl has turned pessimistic, with a prediction of much colder temperatures and more snow possible....
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