SUPER CITIES
A.J. Hoffman: Ranking all of the potential host cities for future Super Bowls
Feb 2, 2018, 7:59 am
And the trophy for best Super Bowl city goes to... New England Patriots website
With this season’s Super Bowl in Minneapolis, and everyone dealing with sub-zero temperatures, I have had some discussion about Minneapolis’ viability as a Super Bowl host city. This discussions led me to make a list of the NFL cities I am most likely and least likely to enjoy my Super Bowl week. To be honest, my rankings are pretty biased to my tastes in the region as far as food, beer, weather and overall ability to host everything it takes to properly host a Super Bowl. Without further ado...
THE “ABSOLUTELY NOT” TIER
30. Green Bay: Yeah, I know. It’s home to a historic franchise, and this is in no way a knock to the state of Wisconsin, but outside of Milwaukee (very underrated city) I have no interest in spending multiple days in the backwoods hoping I don’t end up on the next season of Making A Murderer.
29. Buffalo: I love chicken wings as much as the next guy (actually probably way more), but a week in early February in the middle of nowhere with nothing but snow and Niagara Falls to look at sounds pretty miserable.
28. Baltimore: I’ve seen The Wire plenty of times. Hard pass.
27. Detroit: I know, I know. “It’s better than it used to be.” Detroit had no business hosting the Super Bowl before, and gave no reason why it should get it again.
26. Charlotte: Please don’t try to tell me how great the BBQ is. I’m from Texas. Y’all ain’t fooling anyone with that stuff.
25. Jacksonville- Northern Florida is basically an extension of Mississippi and Alabama. Not much more needs to be said.
THE “I’M SURE IT’S NICE, BUT I WILL PASS” TIER
24. Cleveland: The Hall of Fame is nearby, and the Rock and Roll Hall is in town, but let’s be honest, this city barely deserves the NFL, much less a Super Bowl.
23. Philadelphia: Great city with plenty to do, but having stuff thrown at me or having my rental car set on fire seems extremely unappealing.
22. Washington, D.C.: Security would be even more of a nightmare than usual, and I can’t think of any reason why I would want to spend a week in D.C.
21. Boston: Beantown is one of the best sports town in the world. They win at everything, including football, and is home to arguably the best dynasty the NFL has ever seen. That said, it is frigid, and everyone I have met from Boston is an a**hole.
20. Pittsburgh: This actually seems like a decent road trip. I have heard nothing but good things about the food and beverage scene, but I am too sensitive to cold to have it any higher on the list.
19. Indianapolis: The trip there was fine, and while everything was conveniently centralized, the weather there is lame and there isn’t a whole lot to do.
THE “TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT” TIER
18. Cincinnati: Really underrated town, but something tells me this wouldn’t be much different from Indianapolis. Also, God forbid the media hotel is in Kentucky.
17. Minneapolis: I have never been, and skipping the Super Bowl this year may mean I never go, but I am perfectly fine not dying of frostbite and spending my entire week inside a giant shopping mall.
16, Atlanta: The game is in Atlanta next year, and I am extremely lukewarm on the prospect. I do think it will score well in the nightlife category, but it is one of my least favorite southern cities.
15. Dallas: They had their big chance. Massive, shiny, new stadium, and they are in Texas, which gives them a built in advantage. They blew it though, and had the biggest winter storm in history during Super Bowl week. Plus, it’s still Dallas.
14. Kansas City: Not exactly a booming metropolis, but I feel like the strong food game and an awesome fanbase in an original AFL town might be kind of cool.
13. Chicago: Chicago has everything going for it, except for the weather. Great food, great beer, friendly people. I have spent a week in Chicago, and you won’t run out of things to do, but it won’t be warm.
THE “I COULD DEAL WITH THIS EVERY NOW AND AGAIN” TIER
12. Miami: The South Beach thing is fun for a little bit, but not sure I could deal with it for an entire week. It would be nice to spend the week in shorts and flip flops though.
11. Tampa Bay: Yep, Tampa is ahead of Miami. Great beer town, and they have the good Florida weather without all the Miami pretentiousness (and the $ markup)
10. Houston: I love Houston. I live here. I think it is vastly underrated nationally as a great city. That said, I like seeing new places and trying new things. I can’t do that in Houston.
9. Denver: This is another incredible city to visit. It is one of the prettiest cities in the country, the people are friendly and there are PLENTY of pleasures to partake in (cough, cough). As much as I love the Mile High City, I don’t really want to pack a coat.
8. New York: I love New York, but I don’t like going in the winter. The trip was far from miserable though. Everything was in walking distance, and you will never run out of things to do in New York. The biggest stars show up on radio row, and that helps the cause.
7. Nashville: Nashville isn’t a big city, but as a tourist town they know how to host a party. I think Nashville would do a fine job hosting the Super Bowl, though it seems unlikely unless they build a state of the art stadium.
THE “THEY COULD HAVE IT HERE EVERY YEAR” TIER
6. Seattle: Maybe my favorite city outside of the great state of Texas, Seattle is one of the coolest places to spend a week. It can be cold, but not the biting cold of the northeast. There is great food, great beverage, and other…. Whatever, there is legal weed there, too.
5. San Francisco: I may have enjoyed Northern California more than most, but I found it to be a really nice setup. Everything with the exception of the stadium was centralized in the downtown area. Public transportation was available to take you all over the area, and the weather was beautiful. I would love to go back here again.
4. Phoenix: One thing you know when the Super Bowl is in Arizona, you won’t need a coat, and it isn’t going to rain. It may be the most ideal climate to spend a week in February, and the food is amazing. Beer could be a little better, but the parties in Phoenix are always strong.
3. Las Vegas: This is pure speculation, but I think Vegas will be an amazing spot to host Super Bowls. The infrastructure is built in, and if you can’t have fun in Vegas on a work trip, there is probably something wrong with you.
2. New Orleans: New Orleans has long been the gold standard. No one throws a party like New Orleans, and they are (rightfully) a regular in the Super Bowl rotation. I can go to New Orleans any time of year and have a grand time, and it is hard to beat the food and libations.
1. Los Angeles: L.A. is going to be a natural fit for the big game. They will soon have a state of the art stadium. It will be a destination city for celebrities and I imagine the parties there during Super Bowl week will be top notch. More food and drink than you can shake a stick at, and the weather will always be strong. I expect Los Angeles to be heavy in the rotation from now on.
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The woeful state of the Astros' farm system has made it very expensive to continue maintaining a good team, prohibitively so (in part self-imposed) from having a great team. Even if they re-sign Alex Bregman, trading Framber Valdez and/or Kyle Tucker for prospects could snap the Astros' run of eight straight postseason appearances. But if they KNOW that no way do they intend to offer Framber five years 130 million dollars, Tucker 7/225 or whatever their free agent markets might be after next season, keeping them for 2025 but getting nothing but 2026 compensatory draft picks for them could do multi-year damage to the franchise.
Preliminary Kyle Tucker trade talks between the Astros and Cubs involve both Seiya Suzuki and Isaac Paredes, sources tell @Ken_Rosenthal and me - https://t.co/kIRATDQpEn
— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) December 11, 2024
The time is here for the Astros to be aggressively shopping both. It doesn't make trading them obligatory, but even though many purported top prospects amount to little or nothing (look up what the Astros traded to Detroit for Justin Verlander, to Pittsburgh for Gerrit Cole, to Arizona for Zack Greinke) if strong packages are offered the Astros need to act if unwilling (reasonably or not) to pay Valdez/Tucker.
Last offseason the Milwaukee Brewers traded pitching ace Corbin Burnes one season ahead of his free agency and then again won the National League Central, the San Diego Padres dealt Juan Soto and wound up much improved and a playoff team after missing the 2023 postseason. But nailing the trades is critical. The Brewers got their everyday rookie third baseman Joey Ortiz and two other prospects. The Padres got quality starter Michael King, catcher Kyle Hagashioka, and three prospects.
Back to Bregman
Meanwhile, decision time approaches for Alex Bregman. He, via agent Scott Boras, wants 200-plus million dollars. Don't we all. If he can land that from somebody, congratulations. The Astros' six-year 156 million dollar contract offer is more than fair. That's 26 million dollars per season and would take Bregman within a few months of his 37th birthday. If rounding up to 160 mil gets it done, ok I guess. Going to 200 would be silly.
While Bregman hasn't been a superstar (or even an All-Star) since 2019, he's still a very good player. That includes his 2024 season which showed decline offensively. Not falling off a cliff decline other than his walk rate plunging about 45 percent, but decline. If Bregman remains the exact player he was this season, six-156 is pricey but not crazy in the current marketplace. But how likely is Bregman to not drop off further in his mid-30s? As noted before, the storyline is bogus that Bregman has been a postseason monster. Over seven League Championship Series and four World Series Bregman has a .196 batting average.
The Astros already should be sweating some over Jose Altuve having shown marked decline this season, before his five year 125 million dollar extension covering 2025-2029 even starts. Altuve was still very good offensively though well down from 2022 and 2023 (defensively his data are now awful), but as he approaches turning 35 years old in May some concern is warranted when locked into paying a guy until he's nearly 39 1/2.
Jim Crane is right in noting that long contracts paying guys huge money in their later years generally go poorly for the clubs.
Bang for your buck
Cleveland third baseman Jose Ramirez is heading into the second year of a five-year, $124 million extension. That's 24.8 million dollars per season. Jose Ramirez is a clearly better player than Alex Bregman. Ramirez has been the better player for five consecutive seasons, and only in 2023 was it even close. It should be noted that Ramirez signed his extension in April of 2022. He is about a year and a half older than Bregman so the Guardians are paying their superstar through his age 36 season.
Bregman benefits from playing his home games at soon-to be named Daikin Park. Bregman hit 26 home runs this year. Using ball-tracking data, if he had played all his games in Houston, Bregman would have hit 31 homers. Had all his swings been taken at Yankee Stadium, the "Breggy Bomb" count would have been 25. In Cleveland, just 18. Ramirez hit 41 dingers. If all his games were home games 40 would have cleared the fences, if all had been at Minute Maid Park 47 would have been gone.
Matt Chapman recently signed a six-year 151 million dollar deal to stay with the San Francisco Giants. That's 25.166 million per season. Chapman was clearly a better player than Bregman this year. But it's the only season of Chapman's career that is the case. Chapman is 11 months older than Bregman, so his lush deal with the Giants carries through his age 37 season.
The Giants having overpaid Chapman doesn't obligate the Astros to do the same with Bregman. So, if you're the Astros do you accept overpaying Bregman? They would almost certainly be worse without him in 2025, but what about beyond? Again, having not one elite prospect in their minor league system boxes them in. Still, until/unless the Seattle Mariners upgrade their offense, the Astros cling to American League West favorites status. On the other hand, WITH Bregman, Tucker, and Valdez the Astros are no postseason lock.
For Texans’ conversation, catch Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me on our Texans On Tap podcasts. Thursdays feature a preview of the upcoming game, and then we go live (then available on demand) after the final gun of the game: Texans on Tap - YouTube
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