A few years ago the Super Bowl seemed to be a lost cause. The owners of the NFL wanted to save their yearly spectacle by taking a harder line against fans who did not like the way the game was being run. Then someone suggested an expansion to the game that would help keep the league viable for as long as possible.
Many owners felt they could not compete with the popularity of the other more popular sports leagues around the world and tried to cut down on the number of teams. Instead of having a dozen or so teams play in the Super Bowl there is now a single title game. That means less money is available to the owners and makes it harder to get new stadiums built.
Adding multiple games to the Super Bowl means additional costs to the owners. If they added a final and a Championship game, as they are doing, then the three parties involved would be at the same level playing field. With one game and just one title in the league and the owners would have to get along to survive. They would not need each other.
There were other suggestions for adding championship and final games to the Super Bowl and this idea of putting them on two separate weekends was floated by one owner. The problem with this idea is that most of the tickets purchased during the regular season go to the regular game, especially for those that travel and choose the later game. That is a big chunk of ticket sales.
Adding another championship game to the Super Bowl makes sense as a boost for those that live in the New York area. The local fan base is key to the league and it would be hard to increase attendance with an increased price. Plus, many believe that the one game will benefit the game as a whole and increase the viewing numbers.
Adding two games to the game does not seem like something that will happen anytime soon but it will be interesting to see how the owners handle the idea of adding two games to the current championship game. There will be some owners that will resist and there will be others that will jump on board with this idea. Right now there are too many problems to consider adding two championship games to the game.
For those who live in the New York area there is also the added cost of an extra security fee for the fans that do not want to drive to the game. However, that cost should be offset by the two extra tickets to the game for those that really want to watch the game from home. One thing that seems clear is that the owners will never agree to add two championship games to the Super Bowl.
The Super Bowl is the most watched event of the year and without it there would be no other event that would keep fans glued to their televisions as the NFL tries to grow its television audience. As long as there is a Super Bowl there will be interest in the league and it is worth keeping it around.
