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Monday night was the Falcons groundbreaking ceremony on their new stadium. And owner Arthur Blank made sure everyone knows that a new stadium could -- or should -- mean a Super Bowl in Atlanta.
Blank, speaking at the outdoor event, praised the "normal weather in Atlanta" this time of year and in February.
“Welcome to a typical evening in Atlanta,” Blank said. “So for those of my NFL partners who will one day vote for a Super Bowl, this is normal weather in Atlanta -- even in February."
The Falcons new stadium is scheduled to open in 2017, which means Atlanta become eligible to host the Super Bowl in 2019.
NFL owners are in Atlanta this week, in fact, to vote on where the 2018 Super Bowl will take place. Minnesota, with a new stadium, New Orleans and Indianapolis are the finalists. (UPDATE: Minnesota won the voting on Tuesday.)
Blank hopes the Falcons new digs get to host the big game as soon as they're eligible.
“2019 is our hope," Blank said. “That’s our aspiration, and we’ll see where that takes us, but that’s our hope."
The NFL's been good about rewarding cities with new stadiums. The Vikings are finalists after planning to build a new stadium, the Colts got to host in Indy after building Lucas Oil (and are back in the mix again for 2018), the Giants and Jets building MetLife Stadium resulted in an cold-weather Super Bowl this year and the 49ers new stadium netted them Super Bowl 50.
“We’re in queue. There will be other cities and stadiums in queue as well. It’ll be very competitive," Blank said. “This is a competitive world we’re living in, but this stadium and this great city, with the hospitality and the restaurants and the hotels it has, will give us an opportunity to compete at the highest level."
