quote:
Posted by Mike Florio on May 28, 2016, 7:20 PM EDT

Five cities competed this week for a trio of Super Bowls. The two losing cities got the NFL’s equivalent of a participation ribbon: A personal letter from Commissioner Roger Goodell urging them to keep bidding for future Super Bowl.

In addition to New Orleans, Tampa also has received a “good job/nice try/get ’em next time” missive from the Commish, according to Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times.

“It is clear the Tampa Bay region will be in excellent position to contend for Super Bowls in the years to come,” Goodell wrote. “Thank you for your leadership and many contributions to the success of the league. Our office and the Super Bowl Advisory Committee will continue to support your efforts.”

Of course it will; the NFL needs to constantly have more cities bidding on Super Bowls than it has Super Bowls to award. Otherwise, the NFL won’t get the kind of competitive offers that include free presidential suites for owners and $50,000 in per-team “credits” for expenses teams inevitably will incur. Once the supply of viable candidates to host the games matches the demand, the jig will be up for the NFL.

Which is why the NFL needs to constantly encourage the losing cities to keep trying — and why the owners of every team need to cajole the local politicians and business leaders into aspiring to host the game. The more cities at the table, the more free stuff for the people in each city who already can afford to buy their own stuff, over and over again.

Thanks Roger for the letters. We feel better, now.

In letter to Tom Benson, Roger Goodell supports New Orleans as host of future Super Bowls

By Katherine Terrell, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on May 26, 2016 at 4:36 PM, updated May 26, 2016 at 4:54 PM

On nola.com

quote:
New Orleans will not be hosting a Super Bowl through at least 2021, but the NFL is committed to bringing the game back to the city, according to a letter sent to Saints owner Tom Benson by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

The letter, which was obtained by NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune, said the bid for the 2019 game, which was ultimately lost to Atlanta, was very impressive, but fell to "strong and unique" competition.

quote:
Goodell says in the letter that the NFL supports New Orleans' efforts to obtain a Super Bowl in the future.

The entire letter is written out below:

Dear Tom:

Thank you to you and your team for the hard work and impressive bid by New Orleans to host Super Bowl 53 in 2019.

The vision for a "Big, Easy, Super Bowl" was well articulated and presented. It is clear to all owners that New Orleans is a top-notch Super Bowl city with talented leadership representing the Saints and the community.

Although you did not secure the 2019 game against unusually strong and unique competition, we would look forward to working closely with you and your community in bringing a Super Bowl back to New Orleans soon.

There is a reason New Orleans has been the home of 10 Super Bowls, and we know that it is in a strong position to host more in the future.

Thank you for your leadership and your many contributions to the success of the league. Our office and the Super Bowl Advisory Committee will continue to support your efforts.

My best to you and Gayle, who did an excellent job articulating the case for NOLA.

This post was edited on 5/29/16 at 1:25 am