Super Bowl hosted by Seattle not an impossibility

Seattle is lucky enough to make it to the Super Bowl in two cold cities, so what’s stopping the NFL from holding the big game in the Northwest?

Seattle Sports Commission Executive Director Ralph Morton doesn’t see why it can’t happen.

“One of the most important things that you have is a city that the visitors and the corporate guests can enjoy the entire trip,” Morton told the Morning News on KIRO Radio. He said New York certainly does that – and Seattle does, too.

So what has to happen to get a Super Bowl to Seattle? Morton said Seattle must “build its story.”

“I think right now, it’s positioning ourselves in the process of considering the bid so Seattle has to give a compelling reason (to host.) It’s not going to be 85 and sunny on Super Bowl Sunday, but we also aren’t probably going to have a foot of snow.”

There are some benchmarks for a Super Bowl location that Seattle doesn’t meet – like an average game day temperature of 50 degrees (it’s more like 45 degrees) or a stadium that seats 70,000, (CenturyLink Field as is seats 67,000.)

But Morton said that these things aren’t deal breakers – and what the NFL owners, who vote on where the Super Bowl should be located, are really interested in is finding a location that is financially able to deliver a Super Bowl without flaws.

“You have to be able to show them how you’ll knock it out of the park,” said Morton.

The earliest Seattle can try to get a Super Bowl is in 2019.