Yeah it’s Winter in NJ, Get Over it

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – Whether it be rain, sleet, hail or snow no weather will stop Super Bowl XLVIII from being played at MetLife Stadium. What is usually a pleasant conversation topic reserved for passing time has turned into the leading storyline in a game that’s layered with great ones.

So just to be clear: yes it is not a domed stadium. Yes it is winter in the New York/New Jersey area. And yes it will be cold.

According to The Weather Channel, Sunday’s forecast calls for a high of 36 degrees for Sunday with possible snow showers. There is a possibility that it will be a milder day and that precipitation turns to rain, but it doesn’t look as though a Super Bowl blizzard will come to fruition.

Nevertheless, the predicted 36 degree temperature would go down as the coldest Super Bowl ever, narrowly beating out a 39 degree Super Bowl VI played at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA.

Players from both Super Bowl participants, the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks, are not going to let a little cold get in the way of the biggest game of their lives.

“Once you’re out there, you just deal with it. It is what it is. Everybody has to deal with it. Suck it up for three hours and make it happen,” Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey, who recalled his coldest game being a 2011 playoff game against the New England Patriots where temperatures dipped below zero with wind chill, said.

For some players, like Broncos receiver Wes Welker and Seahawks safety Earl Thomas, the cold weather is a throwback to their Pop Warner days.

“I think it is part of what it is and part of what football is supposed to be. You remember growing up playing in the snow with your buddies and everything like that and enjoying it,” Welker said Sunday.

“I still treat this game like Pop Warner. Little kids love to play in the mud and the snow. That’s just how I am,” Thomas said.

But this is no Pop Warner game being played in the sandlot. Super Bowl XLVIII is expected to draw 400,000 visitors and generate $500-$600 million in revenue for the New York metro area. Needless to say, the NFL simply cannot afford to have a wintery snowstorm this weekend.

The game is taking place during a time of year notorious for East Coast snowstorms. In the event of an unforeseen snowstorm, the NFL has a contingency plan in place where they’d move the game back to Saturday or up a day to Monday depending on the outlook of the forecast. Although they have publically verbalized this contingency plan, it’d be hard to imagine the NFL and FOX losing out on advertisers who’ve paid roughly $4 million per commercial.

Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning hopes weather won’t make him lose out on his second Lombardi Trophy. He’s a career 10-12 in games played below 40 degrees and 0-3 in the playoffs when the temperatures are that cold. While Manning did win Super Bowl XLI in the rain, he and the Broncos will be practicing outdoors all week at the New York Jets practice facility in Florham Park, N.J.

He also sought out little brother Eli on the finer points of MetLife Stadium and had an early season game in East Rutherford under his belt in preparation.

“Eli and I have talked about playing in this stadium. I feel it was helpful to play in this stadium this season. It was the first time I had the chance to play in that stadium. So, it’s nice when you’ve played in it before, at least you kind of know the surroundings a little bit,” Manning said.

The way Manning connected to Reggie Wayne for a 53-yard touchdown back in 2006 is what Seahawks’ center Max Unger says will be a difference maker in Sunday’s showdown.

“In any inclimate weather I guess the difference is just explosive plays. If it’s windy, if it’s raining, it’s snowing, you’ve got to put the ball in the air eventually and that really is the hardest part,” he said.

Unger, a Hawaiian native who has been in the continental United States for 10 years, will not be wearing sleeves on gameday but he does expect to see warming lotions and creams used on exposed areas.

So just to recap: no, the players aren’t worried about the weather on Sunday. And yes, it will be cold. Now we can all go back to enjoying the million other storylines that will be crossing the news ticker this week.