Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Thursday met with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and pitched Chicago’s Soldier Field as a Super Bowl host.
“Obviously, they’re gonna have their first [cold weather] Super Bowl in another city. We’ll see how that goes,” Emanuel said Thursday, referencing the New York area’s hosting of the 2014 game, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
“But we talked about why [not] Chicago? Just two weeks ago [we] had a bunch of world leaders here. Sixth-largest NATO summit. And if we can do that, it would be an appropriate place to have a Super Bowl,” the mayor continued.
In response to the mayor’s prodding, Goodell pointed out that Soldier Field has a smaller capacity than typically expected of Super Bowl-hosting stadiums, the Chicago Tribune reports. Further, the city would need to prove it could host those who travel to Super Bowl-hosting cities without going to the game itself.
And there is also the issue of Chicago’s notoriously harsh January weather to consider.
Nevertheless, Goodell commented that if the New York Super Bowl is deemed a success, that could pave the way for a city like Chicago to be considered as a potential host for the big game, NBC Chicago reports.
Emanuel declined to comment on whether he would support increasing capacity at the stadium for a Super Bowl bid, CBS Chicago reports.
Goodell was in town as part of a commemoration of Soldier Field becoming the first NFL stadium to achieve LEED status. The stadium got a facelift in 2003 that included a number of eco-friendly improvements like energy efficient lighting and electric vehicle charging stations.
The news comes after rumors that the city could be one of several U.S. cities contemplating a bid on a Summer Olympics as early as the 2024 games. The mayor’s office told the Tribune last week, however, that Emanuel is not interested in pushing for another Chicago Olympic bid.
