The NFL world has converged on Mobile, Ala. for the Senior Bowl, but just about all of the big names will be in Indianapolis by next weekend for the league's premier event, Super Bowl XLVI.
A year removed from the first Super Bowl ever held at Cowboys Stadium, team owner Jerry Jones is still confident the big game will return to North Texas, though he's not ready to announce when the region will focus its efforts on bringing the game back.
"That's a pretty coordinated thing with the league," Jones said at the end of a chat with reporters this week. "They help us on that, and I wouldn't get ahead of things right now by going into it, but we certainly will bid for another one . . . I wouldn't want to get into or speculate when, but they give you good advice as far as the timing is concerned."
The game will be held in New Orleans next February, followed by MetLife Stadium in New Jersey in 2014 and Glendale, Ariz. in 2015. North Texas is not planning to bid for the opportunity to host Super Bowl L, the site of which is expected to be announced in May, with a new stadium in Los Angeles a possibility.
Next year, though, the region could be preparing its efforts to bring the Super Bowl back. Jones acknowledges that Super Bowl XLV did not go off without a hitch, thanks in large part to an untimely ice storm that crippled the area for almost the entire week, and problems on game day.
However, there were definite positives for the league's 32 owners, who vote on Super Bowl sites.
"Financially it was, without a doubt, the most successful one ever," Jones said. "It did not go unnoticed, and is a fact, that everyone associated with the NFL were impressed with North Texas and what North Texas did. They understand weather. We live with weather in the sport. But the NFL was impressed with North Texas, and there's no one that's even come close to the financial support of a Super Bowl as we did in North Texas. And I dare say you won't see it again, almost."
