1. Super Bowl
#1 Sports Event
National
The N.F.L.'s championship game—now watched by 108.4 million people in the United States—is taking a gamble next year with host city New York. The game, at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, will mark the first outdoor Super Bowl in a cold-weather city. The host committee has embraced the weather with plans for attractions such as a nearly 60-foot-high toboggan run down Broadway as part of the Super Bowl Boulevard fan fest. Success or failure in New York will set a precedent for other cold-weather cities that would like to host the game such as Chicago and Philadelphia. The Super Bowl has also become an experiential marketing bonanza, where brands such as Playboy, ESPN, and DirecTV stage lavish activations and celebrity-filled parties throughout the weekend. Next: February 2, 2014