Will Jacksonville Join Super Bowl Rotation?

CEOs and VIPs from around the country are ready for some NFL fun in the Florida sun. Their surprising destination: Jacksonville.

Forgive Miami and Tampa for being envious and dubious. Both cities have hosted multiple Super Bowls, but this year the game found a new Florida home -- the smallest market yet for the biggest bash in sports.

“Obviously they’re going to have a few problems,” Tampa’s Leonard Levy said.

“It could be 20 degrees there,” Miami’s Dick Anderson said.

“People are going to be staying on cruise ships -- how many are going to be satisfied with that?” Levy said.

“Cruise ships with little bitty rooms,” Anderson said.

Jacksonville overcame such skepticism about its ability to throw a party and won the bid for the game Feb. 6. If the week goes well, the city once known as Cowford could join Miami and Tampa in the rotation of Super Bowl sites.

After all, the NFL loves Florida. No state has more teams than Florida’s three, and no state has hosted more Super Bowls. The game in Jacksonville will be the 12th for the Sunshine State.

Miami has hosted the Super Bowl eight times, fewer only than New Orleans’ nine, and the game will return to South Florida in two years. Tampa hosted the game in 1984, 1991 and 2001. Miami and Tampa are among four finalists for the 2009 game.