Super Bowl: The 10 Best Stadiums To Never Host the Big Game
The Super Bowl is one of the most watched sports events around the world and is an event only a few select stadiums can host.
On February 6th, Super Bowl XLV, will be played at Cowboys Stadium, and for the first time will be played in the Dallas area.
Over 100,000 fans will be in attendance to see the Packers and Steelers settle who gets the title of world champion of football.
Less than two years after Cowboys Stadium officially opened, it already is hosting the Super Bowl. But there have also been some famous stadiums that have never even hosted the big game.
Here are 10 of them, in no particular order.
Houston Astrodome
1 of 10
The stadium dubbed "The Eight Wonder of the World" may have once played host to the Oilers and Astros, but the first domed stadium in the world never hosted the football's grandest stage.
Not even the Astros could advance to the World Series in their time at the dome.
Even when Houston hosted Super Bowl VIII, the game was played at Rice Stadium, not the Astrodome.
Probably because of the dome's small capacity. (Only more than 50,000 before expansion in the 1980s.)
Lambeau Field
2 of 10
Home of a team with one of the NFL's proudest traditions, Lambeau has never hosted the Super Bowl due to one thing: weather.
It's way too cold for the game. If Green Bay was someplace warm, maybe Lambeau would have hosted the game a handful of times by now.
But with Meadowlands Stadium to be the first open-air stadium with a cold climate to host the big game in 2014, Lambeau may be a future consideration to host the Super Bowl.
Having the Super Bowl at the NFL's coldest stadiums will be the ultimate test of skill, grit, endurance, character and bravery to the elements.
Texas Stadium
3 of 10
Before the Cowboys moved into the state-of-the-art Cowboys Stadium, this stadium was host to the Cowboys and five NFC Championship Games played at home, but never the Super Bowl.
Although the Super Bowl would have been very cool to have at the stadium, it wasn't in the cards.
It's seating capacity was a little lower than other stadiums to host the Super Bowl (65,000), but being one of the most famous stadiums in NFL history, it's kind of a let down that it's never hosted the big game.
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Seattle Kingdome
4 of 10
Opened during a time when domed stadiums where popping everywhere, the Seahawks and Marines both shared this stadium before moving into their own stadiums.
Even as the Kingdome was built in a cold-weather city, other domed stadiums in cold-climate locales hosted the big game (Detriot's Silverdome and Ford Field, Minneapolis' Metrodome, each one) and the Kingdome was kept off the list of stadiums to host the Super Bowl.
Michigan Stadium
5 of 10
"The Big House" has been home to the University of Michigan Wolverines football team since 1927 and is the third-largest stadium in the world. The stadium drew over 110,000 for the "Big Chill at the Big House" hockey game between Michigan and Michigan State, but has never come close to hosting the Super Bowl.
Though it will possibly never happen, the Super Bowl at Michigan Stadium will feature two unique elements: Cold weather and a crowd of over 110,000.
Cotton Bowl
6 of 10
The stadium that was home to the Cotton Bowl Classic until it moved to Cowboys Stadium in 2010 (and was replaced by the vastly inferior TicktetCity Bowl). The Cowboys also had their home games at the stadium before Texas Stadium opened.
The stadium has a capacity of over 90,000 and it would've been a feasible locale for the Super Bowl.
Heck, the Rose Bowl was never home to an NFL team and hosted the Super Bowl several times when the NFL was in Los Angeles. Why not "The House That Doak (Walker) Built?"
Candlestick Park
7 of 10
The place the 49ers have called home since 1971, "The Stick" has hosted six NFC Championship Games and the Giants home games of the 1962 and 1989 World Series, but has not and will never host the Super Bowl.
Even when the San Francisco Bay Area was awarded Super Bowl XIX, it was played at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto.
If the proposal for a new 49ers stadium located in Santa Clara gets approved, maybe we will see a Super Bowl at the stadium that's home to the 49ers.
Giants Stadium
8 of 10
With the New Meadowlands Stadium being the home of Super Bowl XLVII, it's worth putting the old Giants Stadium on this list.
The stadium which the Jets and Giants shared, and by urban legend was Jimmy Hoffa's final resting place, hosted only two NFC Championship Games and never an AFC final for the Jets. The 1994 FIFA World Cup hosted a few matches here, including the semifinal between Italy and Bulgaria.
But of course, cold climates deterred the NFL from hosting football's grandest stage at the stadium.
The only professional football championship game the stadium has hosted was the 1985 USFL Championship Game (which as we know was the last in the league's history).
RCA Dome
9 of 10
Before the Dome was deflated, it was the home of the Colts since they moved to Indianapolis from Baltimore in 1984.
Though the stadium never saw Super Bowl action and did not see its first and only AFC Championship Game until January 2007, the Dome was the host of the NCAA men's Division 1 basketball championship four times and hosted the 1985 NBA All-Star Game.
Perhaps the main reason the Dome was shunned from hosting the Super Bowl was the same reason as the Astrodome: small capacity.
Beaver Stadium
10 of 10
The home ground of Penn State's football team and Joe Paterno, the stadium first opened in 1960. It is ranked only behind Michigan Stadium as the largest stadium in the U.S. and fourth-largest in the world.
Again, the weather factor has made the NFL elude the stadium for the Super Bowl, and maybe they aren't interested in having a college football stadium host the Super Bowl until Los Angeles gets a team back, and maybe they can put the game back at the Rose Bowl once again.
But can you imagine all the Terrible Towels waving if the Steelers happened to play the in the Super Bowl here?
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