The Seahawks, Patriots and Dave Portnoy shared San Francisco last week when all three descended on the Californian city for the Super Bowl. Heading into the matchup, both seasons were still alive, although Seattle was favored to win.
As many predicted, Seattle won the Big Game in the end. One reason, according to Portnoy, was the location of the venue. Portnoy called out the location being a problem due to jet lag in a Thursday video clip posted on his X account.
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“I think it’s a huge advantage for Seattle, playing the Super Bowl in the West Coast, where they live, and not having to adjust to the time difference,” Portnoy said. “I’m still all out of whack.
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“I was out of whack when I got there. Patriots had to be out of whack. It’s unfair. I get that people do it, but it seems like every Super Bowl is on West Coast. It’s a huge advantage for the West Coast teams. Your body isn’t ready.”
A standard flight from Seattle to San Francisco takes about two hours and 11 minutes and remains in the Pacific Time Zone. Meanwhile, a standard flight from Foxborough to San Francisco takes seven hours and crosses multiple time zones. A three-hour difference separates the West Coast from the East Coast. For instance, if it is 1:00 PM on the West Coast, it is 4:00 PM on the East Coast.
The difference can take a traveller some time to adjust.
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Exploring whether Seahawks-Patriots Super Bowl results follow time zone theory
Dave Portnoy’s theory hit on perhaps an understudied aspect of the Super Bowl. With both teams arriving typically the week before, any travel-related disadvantages have conventionally thought to have been ironed out.
However, a look at the ten most recent Super Bowls (including the New England Patriots-Seahawks showdown) shows a notable revelation that gives legs to Portnoy’s theory that proximity to the location of the game play a factor in which team wins it.
Teams with fewer travel miles to the location of the Super Bowl are 7-3 over the last ten matchups on that stage. The Seattle Seahawks’ win on Sunday followed that pattern.
As such, it appears that the bye week and the added week on site before the Super Bowl do not appear to erase the advantage of the team with the closer proximity to the location.
Of course, the only fix for this would be to extend the number of days both teams are required to be on-site before the Super Bowl, which would seemingly push the Big Game toward the end of the month, a change the NFL appears to have no desire to make to fix the apparent problem.
Edited by Ian Van Roy
