It took four votes, but the NFL owners have awarded Super Bowl XLVIII (48) to New York/New Jersey.

The game will be played in February of 2014, and will be the first Super Bowl to played outdoors in a cold-weather stadium. New York/New Jersey beat out bids by Tampa, Florida, which placed second, and South Florida, which was eliminated after the second ballot.

As I wrote this morning, I'm not a big fan of it. I don't like that the "weather clause" was tossed out to allow for a New York/New Jersey bid--and wasn't tossed out when other NFL cities spent hundreds of million dollars on stadiums--and I think the Super Bowl should rotate between six NFL cities that have demonstrated an ability to host this two-week long event, and are located as close to the equator as possible.

Those cities are: San Diego, Glendale (Arizona), Dallas, New Orleans, Tampa Bay, and Miami. Houston, Atlanta, and a possible new stadium in Los Angeles would be acceptable cities to host a Super Bowl, as well.

Upcoming Super Bowl Sites

Super Bowl XLV - Dallas, Texas
Super Bowl XLVI - Indianapolis, Indiana
Super Bowl XLVII - New Orleans, Louisiana
Super Bowl XLVIII - East Rutherford, New Jersey