Jan 18, 2013; New Orleans, LA, USA; Exterior signage is seen in preparation for Super Bowl XLVII to be held February 3, 2013 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Tyler Kaufman-USA TODAY Sports
This season at times we previewed select NFL games of the weekend and helped fans predict at the winners. We will take a look at Superbowl XLVII as we get closer to game day but first let’s take a look at the game immediately after the conference championship games as things will surely change over the next 2 weeks.
At the moment the odds have the San Francisco 49ers favored to win the Superbowl over the Baltimore Ravens who are riding the Ray Lewis retirement train of momentum into this game. The spread is set at 4.5 points so far. Not a large spread by any means but still not a tight 3 point or less spread.
This means if you bet on the 49ers they, need to win by at least 5 points for you to collect. The Baltimore Ravens were 8.5 underdogs in the AFC Championship game, and they incredibly defied the gambling odds and won that game when simply losing by 8.5 points or less would’ve been a victory for bettors.
The over under in the game has been set at 49 points. Each team scored 28 points in their conference championship games, however only one of the conference championship games eclipsed 49 total points.
The early statistics, via RJ Bell, show however that a majority of bets have been made on the Ravens, 66% to be exact, while only 34% have been on the 49ers.
66% of bets made of far on #Ravens; 34% on #49ers - via http://t.co/iSxi0beN
— RJ Bell (@RJinVegas) January 21, 2013
“The 49ers have been a sexy team all year,” Jay Kornegay, race and sports book director at The LVH casino said. “The Ravens don’t get a lot of respect from the public, but that bandwagon is getting a lot more supporters as we speak.”
But how do they determine the spread?
Oddsmaker Benjamin Eckstein of America’s Line provides betting lines to more than 100 newspapers in the United States and Canada and explained that he made the 49ers a 4 1/2-point favorite to encourage action, or betting, on both teams.
”San Francisco is what we call a very public team because they’ve been very good over the past couple years, and people just like to bet on them,” said Eckstein. ”The 49ers have done very well against the spread this year, so they’ve made people a lot of money.”
”The Super Bowl is the one game all year where the public’s money dominates the action,” Kornegay said. ”That’s why we have to gear this line toward the public perception.”
Closer to the Super Bowl we will preview this game, but for now, who do you think will win: Baltimore Ravens or San Francisco 49ers?