The Greatest Show on Turf – Sportsfreak’s Superbowl Preview with Hamish ‘Girvana’ Girvan

The biggest sporting Sunday in the USA is on here this coming Monday. After all the drama of the Manning vs Brady and Carroll vs Harbaugh storylines we have our Super Bowl – the Denver Broncos take on the Seattle Seahawks.

Every Super Bowl brings out its stories and match up hypes but first let’s look at the host venue and ticketing situation. This year the game is being held outside in a cold weather venue for the first time. Traditionally Superbowl’s have been held either in an indoor stadium or in warm winter states such as Florida or California,  however this year New York City has been selected as the host with the game being played in in the Giants/Jets NFL Stadium. With two teams from more or less the other side of the USA demand for tickets has not been as high as previous years and the question always asked is Superbowl really for the fans ?

The chart below shows the ticket distribution – with only 35% going to both teams its seems its more of a corporate/sponsors day out. The least expensive ticket at face value for the Superbowl is $500 and a week ago the cheapest ticket on a major secondary market site was US$2400 – today the cheapest is $1600. Demand is not quite there this year

 

As for the actual game the two No. 1 seeds going into the playoffs actually meet up for the first time since 1993 and this year both teams deservedly so.

The Denver Broncos offensively are the best team in the NFL scoring a record 606 points during the season. Led by Quarterback Peyton Manning they have weapons galore to score – defensively though they are not that strong however if you score more points than the opposition you always win.

The Seattle Seahawks come in with the best defensive record and can break a team down with sheer strength. Marshawn Lynch can be devastating from the running back position and cornerback Richard Sherman has become the biggest story of the game. Whether this will add to the Seahawks chance or be a distraction will have to be seen.

 

“You think we will be friends after the game ? ”

One of the theories around Manning’s play is that he struggles in cold weather. Having spent most of career as an Indianapolis Colt playing home games in an indoor stadium has led to this however his past two seasons in Denver (where it’s hardly balmy) have maybe quelled this theory. Meteorologists were predicting game-day temperatures would reach a high of 6.6 Celsius and a low of -2 Celsius at night with a 20% chance of rain or snow. He will be fine throwing the ball in those conditions.

When the two finalists were found the Seattle Seahawks opened as a slight favourite however the Broncos are now a 2.5 point favourite. This is less than a field goal and the winning margin may be bigger than this with the Broncos experience and Manning’s big game experience taking it out.

If all else fails as a game the halftime Red Hot Chilli Peppers (doing a Led Zepplin tribute) or the Bruno Mars show should be as entertaining.

 

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