NFL owners once stripped Phoenix off Super Bowl hosting rights for failing to recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day

The Super Bowl was set to be held in Phoenix in 1993 until the NFL decided to move it to another location. Then-NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue moved the game because of Arizona's failure to approve a paid holiday honoring civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. NFL owners authorized Tagliabue’s decision to move the big game.

Art Modell, then the owner of the Browns, commented that the decision was tough but had to be made.

Modell said:

″I sympathize with the people in Phoenix, I really do, But I don’t see how we had any choice.″

The owners hesitantly gave Arizona the 1996 Super Bowl game if a public vote on King's Holiday like the one defeated would've passed back in 1992. The move came after Tagliabue and former Arizona Gov. Fife Symington reached an agreement over the phone.

Officials in Arizona accused the NFL of sticking its nose into Arizona state politics. Former Phoenix Mayor Paul Johnson noted that the league should apologize for moving the game out of the city.

″We have nothing to apologize for. I think the NFL has plenty to apologize for and should be ashamed of their actions.″

In 1996, Super Bowl 30 was held in Tempe, Arizona, as the Dallas Cowboys faced the Pittsburgh Steelers at Sun Devil Stadium. The Cowboys won the game 27-17, as it was the team's final appearance in the big game. Arizona hosted the Super Bowl in Glendale for the fourth time earlier this year.

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Which city hosted the 1993 Super Bowl in Phoenix's place?

The league chose to move the 1993 game to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. It saw the Dallas Cowboys face the Buffalo Bills as Dallas defeated the Bills by a score of 52 - 17.

Quarterback Troy Aikman was named the game's MVP, throwing for 273 yards and four touchdowns, two of which were caught by receiver Michael Irvin.

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