This Chronicle article reports on the road trip that several Houston business and city government representatives are taking to New York this week for a Thursday meeting with National Football League officials on Houston’s bid to host Super Bowl XLIII (i.e., 43) in 2009. Final bids must be submitted by May 2, and the league’s owners will award the Super Bowl to one of the candidates on May 25 at the NFL summer meetings in Washington. Houston and Atlanta are considered the early favorites to win the bid, although Tampa and Miami also are submitting bids.
Houston’s successful hosting of the Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004 is certainly a feather in its cap, but the competition for hosting the Super Bowl is getting very stiff. With new stadiums likely to be completed in both Dallas and New York by 2010, and with San Diego, Miami and New Orleans being the favored sites for Super Bowls, Houston might not be in the running to host another Super Bowl for a long time if it is not successful in its bid for the 2009 game.