If you want a glimpse at what the rest of the world thinks of Jacksonville hosting the Super Bowl, check out the AP story below that ran Thursday 01/20/05 night in Miami.

STEVEN WINE
 AP Sports Writer

   MIAMI (AP) - CEOs and VIPs from around the country are ready for some NFL fun in the Florida sun. Their surprising destination: Jacksonville. Forgive Miami and Tampa for being envious and dubious. Both cities have hosted multiple Super Bowls, but this year the game found a new Florida home - the smallest market yet for the biggest bash in sports.

"Obviously they're going to have a few problems," Tampa's Leonard Levy said. "It could be 20 degrees there," Miami's Dick Anderson said. "People are going to be staying on cruise ships - how many are going to be satisfied with that?" Levy said. "Cruise ships with little bitty rooms," Anderson said.

Jacksonville overcame such skepticism about its ability to throw a party and won the bid for the game Feb. 6. If the week goes well, the city once known as Cowford could join Miami and Tampa in the rotation of Super Bowl sites. After all, the NFL loves Florida. No state has more teams than Florida's three, and no state has hosted more Super Bowls. The game in Jacksonville will be the 12th for the Sunshine State.

"Fortunately two other communities in the state have set the standard for how Super Bowls are viewed," said Michael Kelly, president and chief operating officer of the Jacksonville Super Bowl host committee. Miami has hosted the Super Bowl eight times, fewer only than New Orleans' nine, and the game will return to South Florida in two years. Tampa hosted the game in 1984, 1991 and 2001. Miami and Tampa are among four finalists for the 2009 game.

"When you host a Super Bowl, most people feel you can host any event," said Levy, a Tampa businessman who helped first bring the game to that city. "You can't buy the visibility. It puts you on the map." That's a big appeal for Jacksonville, a pro sports town only since Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver founded the expansion team 10 years ago. Jacksonville (pop. 750,000) is different from other Super Bowl sites, and not just because the river through town flows north. Lacking the restaurants and night life of larger cities, Jacksonville created an entertainment zone that organizers hope will be permanent.

Super Bowl visitors will outnumber hotel rooms, so cruise ships will be used for accommodations."Tongue in cheek, I'll tell you: Be careful what you wish for, because sometimes you get it," Weaver said. "It's a Herculean task to pull one of these things off. We have hurdles because of the size of the market. "But a real transformation is taking place in our city. You can see the increased self-esteem of the population as this thing has gotten close." Weaver said Jacksonville today reminds him of San Diego - another city with a large military population - when it first hosted the game in 1988. The Super Bowl has returned to San Diego twice.

NFL vice president for special events Jim Steeg, who has overseen 26 Super Bowls, drew a comparison between Jacksonville and Tampa when it first hosted the game. "Look at how Tampa evolved in the past 20 years, from a town people didn't know much about to what it has become," Steeg said. "I think the Super Bowl had a lot to do with that."

Like Jacksonville, Tampa was hampered by a shortage of hotel rooms in 1984. Many fans attending that Super Bowl were forced to stay 60 miles away at Disney World. But the situation triggered a hotel industry boon, with 5,500 rooms added in Tampa in the first 18 months after the 1984 game, Steeg said. "The Super Bowl creates an infusion of capital and business opportunities," he said. "It will be interesting to see how that happens in Jacksonville."

Anderson, who played in three Super Bowls with the Miami Dolphins and chaired the Super Bowl host committee for Miami in 1989, is skeptical about Jacksonville's chances of becoming a regular site. "The decision-makers, who are the NFL owners, decided to be nice to Wayne Weaver for getting a renovated stadium and voting with them on all the other issues," Anderson said. "That to me is the only reason Jacksonville got a Super Bowl. They're thanking Wayne Weaver for being a good guy."

The NFL's Steeg was noncommittal about Jacksonville's chances of hosting another Super Bowl. "It's tough to say you're going to get another one until you succeed with the one you've got in front of you," he said. "The owners' evaluation is going to be based on how the sponsors and fans and media respond to the site. They're going to tell you." There's more competition than ever to host the game. The first 10 Super Bowls were played in four cities; counting this year, the past 10 games have been in eight cities, with San Diego and New Orleans the only repeat sites. "One smart thing we've done in the NFL is move the Super Bowl around a little bit more," Weaver said. "We've helped cities get new stadiums, using it as leverage to accomplish things that benefit our league. But clearly we're going to have a rotation of warm-weather cities, and I think Jacksonville will be in that rotation."

In at least one regard, the odds favor Jacksonville. Twelve other cities have been Super Bowl sites, and only two haven't been chosen a second time: Stanford and Minneapolis. This is our moment to shine," Jacksonville's Kelly said. "We're doing everything we can to make that first opportunitywork, so we can make our next bid that much more attractive."

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

It’s pretty easy to tick off the stats all week: Road teams win in the Wild Card round of the N?FL playoffs, only 55% of the home teams won this season in the NFL, and the home teams win in the divisional playoffs. It is fun to look at the history, but when it comes true in front of your eyes, it gives a lot of validity to looking back in order to look ahead.

Three of the four games in the Wild card weekend were won by the road team. Of course, the Wild Card weekend matches up teams who had trouble winning with regularity all year long. So it shouldn’t have been that much of a surprise that Minnesota won at Lambeau Field. The Packers lost five times there during the regular season.

In the Divisional Playoffs though, things change. The teams with the byes start players, and naturally, they start winning. Pittsburgh, New England, Atlanta and Philadelphia were all waiting for opponents to be named in their stadiums. And naturally, they all won. The home teams were four-for-four this weekend, setting up the top two seeds in each conference in the Championship games.

The Patriots, Eagles and especially the Falcons looked in control over the weekend. The Steelers did not. The Jets had a couple of chances to win that game, but couldn’t covert, leaving Pittsburgh to host the AFC Title game against New England.

Peyton Manning is now 0-6 against the Patriots in his last six tries, including two straight playoff games in Foxboro.

The Eagles looked methodical and prepared, nothing like the team that showed up in the final two weeks of the regular season. Even having not played a significant game since December 6th, they were able to turn it on.

And can Atlanta be that good?

The Rams aren’t great by any means but the Falcons looked almost unbeatable. Taking that kind of game into Philadelphia is a different story.

Next week will be fun. NFC first at 3pm in Philadelphia, AFC at 6:30 in Pittsburgh.