NEW YORK -- Roger Goodell noticed the snowflake in icy blue-and-white, centered before the George Washington Bridge, during the debut of the logo for the Super Bowl XLVIII Host Committee.
"I think that's great," the NFL commissioner said Tuesday. "A little snow would be great for us. But whatever comes our way, we're going to be prepared for it."
The game at MetLife Stadium will be the first outdoor Super Bowl in a cold-weather venue. While the lowest Super Bowl kickoff temperature has been 39 degrees, average February temperatures at East Rutherford, N.J., are 24 to 40 degrees.
"It's football like it was meant to be played -- in the open, exposed to whatever winter throws our way," the new print advertising campaign for the game states.
Goodell is hoping for light snow, and maintained the organizers will be prepared for foul weather.
"We're coming and playing in the winter, and I think that would be great," he said. "Some of our most memorable games were played in unusual weather circumstances. Winter and cold are part of football, and snow is also."
Given the venue, it figures to be a unique Super Bowl. The logo and advertising were unveiled at an 8 a.m. "power breakfast" news conference at The Modern, a restaurant in the Museum of Modern Art.
The print campaign starting Wednesday and a broadcast advertisement that debuts Sunday are brash, with a deep voice proclaiming: "A game so important, an event so monumental, a Super Bowl so historic it takes two states to host it." The campaign and logos were designed by Source Communications in New Jersey.
Both New Jersey and New York are featured. The TV ad includes Statue of Liberty with shoulder pads, and yard lines on a field on the GW Bridge. The logo has an "NY" and "NJ" flanking the flake at the span's base.
Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press
