Bad weather might force the NFL to move the most watched sporting event in the world, Super Bowl Sunday, to the same night as UFC 169.
The backdrop for the big game this year is MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, an area that could be under the gun for a serious snow storm.
On Wednesday, FoxSports writer Marc Raimondi tweeted that he had learned from an NFL executive that the game could indeed be moved to Saturday, if a snow storm is scheduled to hit on Sunday.
After speaking with NFL senior vice president of events Frank Supovitz back in December, ESPN New York’s Jane McManus reported that the league had plans in place to move the game up to Saturday or delay it until Monday night if needed.
A move to Saturday, February 1 would be bad news for MMA fans. UFC 169 is scheduled to take place that same night at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The event features the bantamweight title fight between Renan Barao and Urijah Faber and the featherweight title bout between Jose Aldo and Ricardo Lamas.
Former heavyweight champs Alistair Overeem and Frank Mir are also scheduled to compete that night. It’s a solid fight card thrown together by the UFC, hoping to serve as a lead-in to Sunday’s big game between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks.
Unfortunately, Mother Nature may have other plans.
If Super Bowl XLVIII coincides with UFC 169, it would be a devastating blow to the UFC’s pay-per-view buys. It would also hurt the live attendance, as many fans and celebrities would likely opt out of the event to enjoy all of the glitz and glamour of the Super Bowl.
There’s certainly no reason to panic yet. We are still over a week away from the big game, and the weather could change between now and then.
Be sure to stay tuned into Bleacher Report as more news becomes available on this developing story.
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