Superbowl 2015 has arrived, and there is no shortage of news and controversy. The Feb. 1st matchup will feature the NFC Champion Seattle Seahawks and the AFC Champion New England Patriots. Pay per head players got their dream matchup, and so did the NFL. Top bookie sites opened the Seahawks at -3 and the total just under the 7 touchdown number, at 48.5. The money started pouring in on the dog, and sites quickly moved all the way down to pick em’ and up to -1 in some places. But this is all before the big news.
Reports started surfacing as early as Monday, that the Indianapolis Colts, who fell to the Patriots in the AFC Championship game 45-7, had made accusations that the balls that the Patriots offense had been using were purposely deflated violating NFL rules. Tom Brady was on the radio, laughing off the questions. I doubt he is laughing about them now. The initial reports were confirmed and the sports world has been a buzz ever since. People are calling for Belichick to be suspended, Fined and even take the Patriots out of the big game.
The question for bookmakers is, how does this affect me? Well, it depends mainly on what consequences the Patriots face. If Belichick is suspended for this game, I would expect sites for bookies to move the line at least back to a pick, if not making the Seahawks a small favorite. If nothing is done, or even if he is gone, the Patriots might use this as motivation.
