Super Bowl XL is almost a month away and football fans don’t even know who the fighters will be.
However, the Las Vegas Hilton, trying to be the first with the most bettors in the entire valley, has posted odds on the 41st NFL mid-winter show, to be played on February 1. 4 at Dolphins Stadium in Miami.
SuperBook Race and Sports Book Director Jay Kornegay, Sports Book Manager Ed Salmons, Supervisors Jeff Sherman and Matt Metcalfe and others connected to the betting business got together and crunched numbers, just as they did with the BCS odds of 2007.
Peyton Manning-led Indianapolis, 14-2 and one of eight teams still in contention for the 2006 Super Bowl in Detroit, lent the mantle of favorite.
The Colts currently have less than even money to get their first Lombardi Trophy on Feb. 2. 5, broke from the gate as heavy 5/2 favorites to win the 2007 NFL title and 3/2 shots to capture the AFC.
Indy did not appear in the first 39 Super Bowls.
While the Colts, who lost two of the last three regular-season games, are obviously viewed by oddsmakers as being head and shoulders above the rest of the league, the Pats and Bolts top a list of second-tier AFC clubs. and Seattle is still the cream of the NFC crop.
New England, winner of the past two Super Bowls, and San Diego, which barely missed the playoffs this season, are 10/1 co-second options to take over the 2007 deal.
Both are also 6/1 to dominate the AFC.
Pittsburgh is 12/1 to win the Super Bowl and 7/1 to win the AFC.
Cincinnati, Denver and Kansas City are 15/1 to rule the circuit in 2007 and 8/1 to win the conference.
Confirming the current NFL pecking order is the fact that the Seahawks, at 14/1, are rated the NFC’s best hope for dethroning their AFC counterparts.
Seattle is also a 9/2 option to win the conference.
A host of NFC clubs are 20/1 to win the Miami Super Bowl and 6/1 to win the NFC title: Carolina, Dallas, Washington, Chicago, Philadelphia and the New York Giants.
Atlanta, Tampa Bay and Jacksonville are 30/1 to win Super Bowl rings; the Falcons are 10/1 to win the NFC, the Bucs are 13/1 and the Jags are 17/1.
Minnesota, Miami and Baltimore all went up as Super Bowl shots 40/1; the Vikings opened at 15/1 to win the NFC and the Dolphins and Ravens went 22/1 to dominate the AFC.
Local favorite Oakland is a 50/1 and 27/1 Super Bowl selection to win the AFC.
St. Louis opened 60/1 and 25/1, while Detroit and Arizona opened 75/1 and 30/1.
Grouped at 100/1 to win the Super Bowl and 50/1 to claim an AFC championship were Buffalo, Cleveland, Houston, Tennessee and the New York Jets.
Green Bay was a 100/1 Super Bowl selection and a 40/1 NFC selection.
The long shots were the Saints, returning to New Orleans, and the once-mighty 49ers, five-time Super Bowl champions, at 200-1 to capture the Super Bowl and 75/1 for an NFC crown.
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Texas, which shocked and dethroned national champion Southern Cal in the 2006 Rose Bowl, is the Las Vegas Hilton SuperBook’s fifth choice to capture the 2007 BCS Championship, behind the Trojans and a trio of other traditional national powerhouses.
Start as the 5/1 favorite to claim the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, site of the national title game, in Glendale, Arizona on January 1. 8th is Ohio State, followed by Oklahoma and Notre Dame at 6/1, USC at 7/1 and the Longhorns at 10/1.
Among other notable clubs, Florida opened on 1/12 and Miami (Fla.) on 1/15.
Grouped at 20/1 were Michigan, West Virginia, Auburn and Florida State.
Penn State was up 30/1, UCLA 40/1, Alabama 50/1, and Tennessee and Georgia 60/1.
UNLV was the long shot listed at 1000/1 and the field opened at 30/1.