NFC heavy favorite again

Tim Graham

Monday, Jan. 12, 1998 | 5:38 a.m.

The NFC will have no trouble winning its 14th straight Super Bowl, according to those who set the line.

And the early action was in agreement.

The NFC champion Green Bay Packers opened as 12 1/2-point favorites to beat the AFC's Denver Broncos in the Jan. 25 title game. Within an hour of the point spread's posting it jumped to 14 before settling in at 13 1/2 Sunday night.

The total opened and held steady at 49 1/2 points.

"I don't think it's any secret that the NFC teams play at a higher level," said Michael "Roxy" Roxborough of Las Vegas Sports Consultants, possibly the most influential oddsmaker in the world.

"It doesn't have anything to do with history because we have to analyze each Super Bowl on its own merit. But Green Bay clearly is the best team in football."

The Packers beat the San Francisco 49ers 23-10 in a cold, steady rain to earn a shot at back-to-back Super Bowl championships.

"They were dominating today, playing in bad conditions and on the road," Roxborough said. "I think they're heading into the Super Bowl at a peak level."

The Broncos also won as a road favorite. They held off the Pittsburgh Steelers 24-21 at Three Rivers Stadium to claim the AFC championship. The victory sends quarterback John Elway to his fourth Super Bowl. He has never won one.

"I think Denver may be able to get business as a sentimental choice, but I'm not sure they have the tools," Roxborough said.

If history is any indicator, the line will fluctuate through this evening and remain mostly inactive until the weekend of the game. About 70 percent of all Super Bowl wagers are placed within three days of kickoff.

According to Roxborough, sports books will generate a record Super Bowl handle.

"We predict there will be $75-80 million bet this year," he said.

Meanwhile, the AFC and NFC championships turned into a Black Sunday for the local sports books. Most of the bettors' money was on winners Denver and Green Bay.

"But it wasn't as bad for us as I thought it could be," said Rob Terry, sports book director at Sunset Station. "I was mildly surprised by our outcome. We didn't win, but we didn't lose as much as I thought we were going to."

Unlike Sunday's games, Terry expects the Super Bowl to generate two-way action among bettors for two reasons: the large point spread and the Elway Factor.

The game opened as Green Bay minus 13 1/2 at Sunset and is holding steady, Terry said today.

"I think you're going to get good two-way action," he said. "This is what you expected, a double-digit favorite. But with Elway ... there's going to be a lot of hype behind that, and now you've got two weeks of it.

"I think there's going to be a lot of Denver money and we may need the favrorite to win and cover. It is a lot of points."