“The Boys,” Talk about why Tampa deserves the 2021 Super Bowl

Tampa clearly is ready to host the Super Bowl in 2021

Tampa will host its fifth Super Bowl in 2021 after the National Football League announced earlier this week that Los Angeles would not be ready to handle the big game. During the bidding process for the 2021 Super Bowl the Tampa Bay area finished a strong second to “the city of angles.”

NFL owners voted unanimously to move Super Bowl LV in February 2021 from Los Angeles to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. Los Angeles will now host the Super Bowl in 2022 in their new stadium that will be home to the Rams and the Chargers.

“From our standpoint, we felt this was an appropriate thing to do,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Tuesday. “We were fortunate that Tampa had a very competitive presentation when they bid on the Super Bowl earlier [in 2016]. So this was a solution the membership got on very quickly.”

Goodell added that the league and team owners did not consider re-opening the bidding for Super Bowl LV since there was an urgency to make a decision given the “short timeframe” of the situation.

The Sunshine Boys talked about why the Bay Area was awarded the big event after being passed by the NFL in the initial process. Joe Henderson, Ira Kaufman have covered over 30 Super Bowls and they understand what it takes land one.

Kaufman thinks that the Bay Area has a very long and good relationship with the NFL. “The Tampa Bay Sports Commission, has proven that they can handle the big events and they have been good soldiers working with the league on all the bids they have put forth.”

Meanwhile, Henderson agreed with his colleague on Tampa being ready to go. “I think that Rob Higgins, executive director of the Tampa Bay Sports Commission, has proved that if it is a Super Bowl, a Frozen Four or The National College Football Playoff Championship Game, the city can make it work on all levels.”

2009 was the last time Tampa hosted the game at Raymond James Stadium. However, even after hosting Alabama and Clemson in The Playoff Championship, the facility will be putting the final touches on the $150 million renovation project.

 

 

Jim Williams is the Washington Bureau Chief, Digital Director as well as the Director of Special Projects for Genesis Communications. He is starting his third year as part of the team. This is Williams 40th year in the media business, and in that time he has served in a number of capacities. He is a seven time Emmy Award winning television producer, director, writer and executive. He has developed four regional sports networks, directed over 2,000 live sporting events including basketball, football, baseball hockey, soccer and even polo to name a few sports. Major events include three Olympic Games, two World Cups, two World Series, six NBA Playoffs, four Stanley Cup Playoffs, four NCAA Men’s National Basketball Championship Tournaments (March Madness), two Super Bowl and over a dozen college bowl games. On the entertainment side Williams was involved s and directed over 500 concerts for Showtime, Pay Per View and MTV Networks.