Now that Minneapolis secured the 2018 Super Bowl (a mere presidential term away), it’s time to start speculating on how it will go. Here are some essential ingredients for a successful Twin Cities NFL championship game.
1) The Minnesota nice/Midwest factor – News outlets better refrain from using a heavy-handed “Oh, yah” factor in the coverage. National pre-game features on cheese curds and the Jucy Lucy — we don’t need to see that. We probably will, but we shouldn’t have to. It’ll also help if that FX version of “Fargo” is off the air by then. This hometown talk leads me to:
2) The music – Organizers better shy away from the obvious thought of getting Prince and Bob Dylan to play halftime. I know someone is thinking it already, and it’s just a bad idea.
3) The weather – It better be decent outside. Last year, we saw how much people talked about the cold when the big game was held in New Jersey. True, that was outdoors and this’ll be in a dome. But, the history of warm weather locations for Super Bowls and the amount of airtime last year's relatively balmy 49 degree kickoff temperature got indicate that if Minnesota is experiencing typical February weather come 2018, pundits will incessantly talk about it.
4) The stadium – Speaking of playing in a dome, this new stadium better be sick. The reason a lot of places get a Super Bowl stems from new stadiums. But, if the new stadium has some … quirks … it’ll be bad for the game and the city.
5) The prep – The TC better be ready. The seemingly constant global struggles with Olympic and World Cup preparations, while on a much larger scale, are still testimony to the importance of proper preparation.
6) The Vikings – The Vikings better be, well, better by then. Nothing would be worse than hosting the championship game and having the Vikings’ inadequacies rubbed in our face at the same time. If Teddy Bridgewater is still playing for the Vikes in 2018, that’ll be a pretty good indicator that the franchise is headed in the right direction.
