NFL Disscussion Thread - aka the old AFL players thread

Talk about what's going on in the world of sport.
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IanRitchie
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Post by IanRitchie »

Those shots of the sopping wet cheerleaders were quality viewing.

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Saints-Premiers
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Post by Saints-Premiers »

IanRitchie wrote:Those shots of the sopping wet cheerleaders were quality viewing.
**sigh** and where was I? bloody school. Replay is on now, almost over, but bloody folks are watching some TV1 replay of a replay of a replay of replay of a replay marathan (in other words, crap).

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HoldenV8
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Post by HoldenV8 »

Just some statistical bull$hit for you all. I've got nothing better to do right now.....

* 3,206,300 fans have been at the 41 Super Bowl games. That makes for an average of 78,802 fans per Super Bowl. Todays attendance at Dolphins Stadium in Miami was 74,512.

* The largest ever crowd was for Super Bowl XIV on 20/01/80 when 103,985 turned up to see the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Los Angeles Rams 31-19.

* The smallest ever crowd was for Super Bowl 1 on 15/01/67 when 'only' 61,946 attended the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to see the Green Bay Packers beat the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10.

* Miami & New Orleans have held the most Super Bowls with 9 each. Both cities have used 2 stadiums. Tulane Stadium & Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. Miami Orange Bowl & Dolphins Stadium in Miami.

* The Louisiana Superdome was the 1st indoor stadium used to host a Super Bowl when it hosted Super Bowl XII on 15/01/78. That day 76,400 saw the Dallas Cowboys beat the Denver Broncos 27-10.

* Super Bowl XLII will be held in the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. It will be played on 03/02/08.

* Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida will host its 2nd Super Bowl when Super Bowl XLIII comes to town on 01/02/09. This will be the 4th time the event has been held in Tampa.

* Dolphins Stadium will host its 5th Super Bowl on 07/02/10. This will also be a record 10th Super Bowl for the city of Miami. It will also be the 5th held in the state of Florida since 2000.

* No team has ever qualified to play a Super Bowl in their home stadium.

There you go. I've wasted some time. Time to go do something destru...er...constructive.

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Egan
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Post by Egan »

Does Florida pay all the cash to get the Super Bowl that many times?

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Post by yank21 »

It just makes sense to have Florida, Texas, California, or other southern cities host the Super Bowl because the climate is more mild during that time of year. Of course, in 2000, the Super Bowl was held in Atlanta, GA and there was a huge ice storm, so it doesn't always work out to be warmer.

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Simmo79
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a bit of Super bowl history

Post by Simmo79 »

The reality is that it’s not just the game itself that they’re thinking about when they pick the SB site, but a whole week’s worth of festivities. Climate is important for partying. They are also related questions of which cities have the most hotel rooms, convention space, the best nightclubs, the highest quality blow and the best looking strippers and hookers. That’s why touristy party towns like New Orleans, Miami, LA and San Diego get the SB most of the time.


Holden mentioned Tulane stadium in his post. I’d never heard of that ground until recently so I’d thought I’d flesh out a bit of history of this now-forgotten, but once famous stadium.

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Tulane Stadium was built on Tulane University's campus next to downtown New Orleans. It was opened in 1926 with a seating capacity of roughly 35,000. Tulane University (“the Green Wave”) is private university dubbed one of the “Southern Ivies”. Tulane was a charter member of the powerhouse SEC but left that conference in 1966 after years of poor campaigns (and long losing streaks to in-state rival LSU). They are now a member of the mid-major Conference USA.

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The first Sugar Bowl was played in 1935 at Tulane Stadium (Tulane vs Temple University) – how times change, Temple have also fallen from the elite levels of college football. Since the institution of the annual Sugar Bowl game, Tulane Stadium itself was often informally referred to as "the Sugar Bowl". It was also billed as "The Queen of Southern Stadiums".

The original 1926 structure was mostly of brick and concrete. The stadium was eventually expanded to seat up to 80,985 fans. The additional seating sections were metal. Lights were installed in 1957.

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In addition to hosting Tulane University football games and the Sugar Bowl, the stadium was also home to the National Football League's New Orleans Saints from 1967 through 1974. It was also the site of Super Bowl IV (1970), Super Bowl VI (1972) and Super Bowl IX (1975). Super Bowl IX was the last professional league game ever played at the stadium. The Saints, Tulane football and the Sugar Bowl all moved to the Louisiana Superdome for the 1975-6 season.

In 1975, the day the new Superdome was opened, Tulane Stadium was condemned. Upon appeal by the University, the older concrete and brick section was deemed fit to use, but not the newer metal seating section. The stadium then continued in more limited use for five years with the smaller seating area, used for football practice, high-school games, and other smaller events. Tulane Stadium was demolished in 1980.



Other early Super Bowl sites (college stadiums).

LA Colliseum (Super Bowls I and VII) – Home of the University of Southern California, perpetual champions of the Pacific 10 conference. The stadium is in the NCAA stadiums thread in World Stadiums. Super Bowls

Orange Bowl (Super Bowls II, III, V, X and XIII) – Home of the University of Miami of the Atlantic Coast Conference and the original home of the Orange Bowl game (now played at Dolphins Stadium). No major changes to its structure since it was first built. The stadium has a capacity of 72,000.
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Rice Stadium (Super Bowl VIII) – Home of Rice University (Houston, TX). Like Tulane this school once had a famous football team, but now lie in mid-major obscurity. The only real difference is that their stadium still stands. Capacity 70,000
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Rose Bowl (Super Bowls XI, XIV, XXI and XXVII) – Home of the Rose Bowl game and UCLA football. The stadium is in the NCAA stadiums thread in World Stadiums

Stanford Stadium (Super Bowl XIX) – Home of Stanford University of the Pac-10 (in the San Francisco Bay area between SF and San Jose. This on-campus stadium was demolished last year and re-built in situ at a cost of US$90m (see, you can buy a decent quality stadium for a good price if you don’t want any bubble wrapping).

1921 – 2005 (capacity 85,000)
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2006 - (capacity 50,000)
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Simmo79
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a bit of Super bowl history

Post by Simmo79 »

deleted dp
Last edited by Simmo79 on Tue Feb 06, 2007 12:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Jeffles
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Post by Jeffles »

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US$90m for this and a capacity of 50,000. That's bloody cheap! Look at all the hospitality space and potential advetrtising room. This thing will pay for itself in no time.

Take note Australia.

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HoldenV8
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Post by HoldenV8 »

A potential venue currently must meet these qualifications in order to be a Super Bowl host:

* Average high temperature of at least 50 degrees Fahrenheit in February, unless the game is being played in an indoor arena.
* Stadium with 65,000 seats or more.
* Space for 10 photo trailers and 40 television trucks.
* 600,000 square feet of exhibit space for fan events.
* Large, high-end hotel for teams and NFL.
* 50,000 square feet of space for news media ("Radio Row").
* Enough "quality" hotel rooms within a one-hour drive for 35% of the stadium's capacity.
* Separate practice facilities for each team.

Exceptions are at the discretion of the NFL. For instance, cruise ships made up the discrepancy in hotel rooms for Jacksonville in Super Bowl XXXIX.

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Egan
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Post by Egan »

Jeffles wrote: Take note Australia.
Wages would be 10 times higher in Western Australia...and I would imagine a lot higher in the eastern states then in America.

That would be 200 million easily in Perth, where bricklayers and labourers earn as much as Accountants.

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Simmo79
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Post by Simmo79 »

honest to god you need to put some context in your posts - they're impossible to follow.

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Egan
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Post by Egan »

"American wages are lower then Australian's thus the expense of building stadium's would be lower in the USA then in Australia".

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tom
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Post by tom »

I'm very impressed at how fast the new Stanford Stadium was built. 8)

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IanRitchie
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Post by IanRitchie »

tom wrote:I'm very impressed at how fast the new Stanford Stadium was built. 8)
I'm impressed at how fast they started demolishing it.

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Post by sandyhill »

Another top American football stadiums post by Simmo. Meanwhile, the Aussies are having some influence on the NFL. After being first very gradually introduced into Australian Football in the VFL in the first two decades of teh 20th century, eventually spreading to the rugby codes in the 1980's and 90's, the drop punt has now crossed the Pacific -

AFL kicking technique helps Colts punter
February 5, 2007 (Age)

INDIANAPOLIS Colts punter Hunter Smith admits he has borrowed a kicking technique from the AFL to help his team in Monday's Super Bowl.
In a sign of the growing influence of Australians on the National Football League punting, Smith said a technique learned from former West Coast and Melbourne AFL player Darren Bennett changed his career
.

"One thing I did pick up from Darren Bennett when he was the punter for San Diego, I picked up the end-over-end, Aussie-rules-style punt that you do in close situations," Smith told radio Sport 927 yesterday. "I picked that up, and it literally transformed my game."

The drop punt, the basic kicking style learnt by all AFL players, also has been a significant weapon for former Geelong player Ben Graham, now punting for the New York Jets. Graham and another Australian punter, Mat McBriar of the Dallas Cowboys, both helped their teams into the NFL play-offs this season. McBriar, who led the NFL punting averages, was also selected for the end-of-season NFL Pro Bowl game.

Brad Maynard, whose Chicago Bears will play Indianapolis in the Super Bowl, said while it was too late in his punting career to learn new tricks, he would advise up-and-comers to study the Australians. "If there was a young kid that wanted some advice, I might send him some tape of those two punters (Graham and McBriar) because they are excellent punters," Maynard said.

Former Collingwood and Kangaroos player Saverio Rocca is following the path from AFL to NFL laid by Bennett and Graham, having recently signed with the Philadelphia Eagles. The 33-year-old now has to compete with veteran incumbent punter Dirk Johnson to nail a spot in the side for next season. While Rocca has a prodigious kick, Smith said there were other attributes needed to make a successful conversion. "Kicking the ball is one thing, catching it and getting it off all in a very short amount of time is another thing," Smith said.

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