There can be but one explanation, my friends: Christiemania.

NFL owners have voted to put the championship game in the new $1.6 billion Meadowlands stadium that’s about to become home to the New York Jets and Giants. It does not have a roof and it will be February.

It is the first time the NFL has picked a known cold-weather site to hold the game outdoors. The 48th Super Bowl in East Rutherford, N.J., will almost certainly be colder than the Super Bowl’s record low of 39 degrees at kickoff. That came at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans in 1972.

The usual rule is that they won’t give the game to a city whose average temp in February is below 50 degrees, but they’re making a “one-time exception.” Or so they say: Obviously, everything will depend on how good the game is. If it’s a smashmouth classic a la the Ice Bowl, they’ll be playing the game in Anchorage in a few years. If it ends 3-0 on a field goal during a snowstorm after 11 fumbles, not so much. I’m going to guess that most readers dig the idea, partly for the novelty and partly for the purist appeal of cold-weather football, but there’s only one way to find out. Take the poll below, but not until after you’ve watched the embedded clip for the counterarguments. The guy’s right — no matter how good the 2014 game is, eventually there will be a frosty Super Bowl clusterfark that ensures no one ever thinks of doing this again. The only question is how long it’ll take before it happens. Exit quotation: “Inside, Giants lineman Chris Snee, Jets Center Nick Mangold and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie were all on hand to hear the announcement.”

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