Waiting For The Super Bowl Vote

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I'm sitting in the lobby of the Omni Mandalay Hotel in Irving, Texas, about 60 feet away from the NFL Network set. The place is buzzing with reporters, league officials, PR types, etc., all waiting for the owners to vote on the 2014 Super Bowl bids.

Every so often, a "regular" hotel guest will walk into the lobby with a "What's-going-on-here?" look on their face. Contrary to popular belief, not everybody in Western civilization is waiting to see if New York/New Jersey lands the first cold-weather Super Bowl in history. It only seems that way.

Here's what will happen over the next few hours: Around 2:45 EST, behind closed doors, the three finalists for Super Bowl XLVIII -- New York/Jersey, Tampa and South Florida -- will begin to make their presentations to the owners. Because the owners aren't allowed to be involved in this part of the process, the Jets/Giants presentation will be handled by Giants treasurer Jon Tisch and Meadowlands CEO Mark Lamping.

Each city gets 15 minutes to state their case. As I reported Monday, the Jets/Giants presentation will include two videos. The plan is to highlight some of the most famous cold-weather games in history, as they try to convince the other owners that it's cool to be cold.

The batting order: 1. New York/Jersey, 2. Tampa, 3. South Florida.

After the three 15-minute presentations, Frank Supovitz, the NFL's senior VP of events, will speak to the owners. He will provide them with an analysis of the three bids, trying to be objective. When he's done, the three bidders get one last shot to speak to the room, a five-minute spiel by each owner. For the Jets/Giants bid, it'll be Giants co-owner John Mara and Jets owner Woody Johnson, who showed wearing a green and blue tie for good luck. They will share the floor for five minutes.

Then, finally, they vote. To win on the first ballot, a city needs 75% of the votes (24 out of 32 teams). Failing that, they vote again, still looking for 75%. Failing that, the third-place finisher is eliminated.

They hold a third ballot, with two teams, looking for 75%. Failing that, they vote once again. This time, a simple majority (17 votes) wins the prize. It seems like an awful lot of voting, but, hey, the rules are the rules.

The votes will be counted by the Chicago Bears' Mike McCaskey (NFC teams) and the Kansas City Chiefs' Clark Hunt (AFC teams). Ordinarily, Mara has the NFC responsibility, but he was replaced for the obvious reason.

By 4:30, or so, commissioner Roger Goodell will make the announcement live on the NFL Network. You get all that? In the end, it'll be a major upset if the new Meadowlands Stadium doesn't emerge with the victory.