Cowboys Stadium Roof To Be Closed For Super Bowl

Added on Jan 25, 2011 by Jack Thurman in

Super Bowl

Football betting enthusiasts won’t have to worry about the weather conditions influencing the side or total outcome of Super Bowl XLV between the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers. The NFL has already made the decision to play the game with the retractable roof at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas closed. The primary concern wasn’t precipitation, but the potential for cold temperature that prompted the call to make pro football’s biggest game an indoor affair.

Obviously the NFL had to get in a little bit of spin on the decision, so spokesman Brian McCarthy said that the decision was made so that the league could have a ‘singular focus’ on handling the logistics and to guarantee that weather wouldn’t cause any problems in the presentation of the event or play of the game. Oddly enough, the fact that the roof would be closed–which was known late Monday–hasn’t had the anticipated effect on the Super Bowl total. The total opened at 44′ and was quickly bet up to 46. As of 5 AM Pacific time Tuesday every sportsbook on the board has seen the total move the other way. There’s not a 46 to be found, with 45 or 45′ being the current OV/UN number.

There’s also been some takeback on the Steelers, though nothing significant. Most books still have the game as Green Bay -2′, but there are a few at -2. We’ll have a full analysis of the betting proposition–side and total–plus every prop bet imaginable in the almost two weeks before the game. In theory at least, the roof closure would seem to have at least a marginal benefit to Green Bay’s more pass oriented offense.

The roof of the $1.3 billion stadium was open for the first regular season game ever played there–which had an attendance of over 105,000–but the expectation for Super Bowl XLV is for around 93,000 in the stadium. The hope is that the game will set the all time Super Bowl attendance record since the ‘outside the stadium standing room tickets’ will be counted in the paid attendance.