ORLANDO, Fla. — Holding the 2014 Super Bowl at new Meadowlands Stadium got another loud endorsement from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and several prominent owners here today.
The joint bid by the Giants and Jets to play host to the game, an idea considered outlandish not too long ago because of the chance of snow at the open-air stadium, instead continues to pick up steam going into the late-May vote in Dallas.
New York’s quest for the Super Bowl is taking a back seat here this week at the annual meetings, which are mostly focused on the league’s unsettled labor situation and several proposed rules changes, but the bid is still a frequent topic of discussion.
Goodell, who gave New York’s hopes an influential boost with an endorsement before this year’s Super Bowl, stood up for the Meadowlands once again?today after his annual presentation to the owners.
“I do think it was right that [New York] be one of the alternatives,” Goodell said. “I think it can be very attractive to the ownership and to the NFL in general, and I continue to believe that.”
Goodell also said he didn’t think the recent rift between the league and Jets owner Woody Johnson over the coin flip to decide the host of the first game at the new $1.6 billion stadium would impact New York’s Super Bowl bid.
“I don’t think it will have any effect at all,” Goodell said.
New York is considered the frontrunner for the 2014 game after Arizona pulled out last month. Tampa and South Florida are also in the mix, although South Florida’s chances are dimming because of difficulty obtaining money to make stadium improvements.
The Giants and Jets are expected to release a study soon that predicts the 2014 game would inject more than $500 million into the local economy — a Super Bowl record.
Bids are due April 1, and New York will need 24 of the 32 votes. Goodell doesn’t have a vote, but several people who do — league owners — also gave Gotham public backing today.
Vikings owner Zygi Wilf, who grew up in Hillside, NJ, and graduated from both Fairleigh Dickinson and New York School of Law, indicated he would vote for New York.
“Being from New Jersey, [a New York Super Bowl] would be something I would consider and favor,” Wilf told The Post. “I would have to listen to the arguments, but again, being from New Jersey …”
Another local product-turned-owner, Flushing native Arthur Blank of the Falcons, also told The Post today that he will look favorably on New York’s bid to be a one-time host.
As well as the league waiving the rule that prohibits Super Bowls in weather below 50 degrees, several other owners — most notably, the Patriots’ Robert Kraft and Daniel Snyder of the Redkins — already have made clear their support of New York’s bid.
It’s not entirely a New York lovefest, though.
“I’m OK with an open-air Super Bowl — as long as it’s in Miami,” Bengals owner Mike Brown told The Post.