This Sunday three NFC teams will take the field in the Divisional Playoffs who call a domed stadium home: Minnesota, St. Louis & Atlanta. This got me to thinking today: how do domed teams fare in Super Bowls? So I did a little research. What I found was literally unbelievable to me.
First of all, let's break this down. 39 Super Bowls have been played and completed. Not counting teams that have played in multiple Super Bowls, that means that 39 teams have won the Super Bowl in its history, and a total of 78 teams have played in the Super Bowl.
Out of the 39 teams that have won the Super Bowl, only one, the '99-'00 St. Louis Rams played their home games in a domed stadium.
Out of the 78 teams that have played in the Super Bowl, only two have played their home games in domed stadiums: the '98-'99 Atlanta Falcons and the '99-'00 St. Louis Rams.
Pretty unreal isn't it?
In addition to that take into account that the Falcons had home field advantage in the playoffs until the NFC Championship Game against the Vikings, which was played in the Metrodome, and the Rams had home field advantage throughout the '99-'00 playoffs. And to throw even more fuel on the fire, guess where the Rams played that Super Bowl on January 30, 2000 when they beat the Tennessee Titans? You guessed it, a dome. The Georgia Dome in Atlanta. So, the only team from a domed stadium to ever win a Super Bowl had the luxury of playing their entire playoff schedule, including the big dance, indoors.
Teams that play in domed stadiums do not play well in the playoffs unless they play in domes. The Vikings and the Rams winning their playoff games last weekend was an anomaly.
Is there any greater evidence that football should not be played indoors? Why would any owner even want to build a domed stadium? For the comfort of his team? Because apparently comfortable teams get too comfortable and can't win the big games.
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