My theory of Bon Jovi not playing the SuperBowl
 

I believe that Bon Jovi not playing the SuperBowl this year will be a blessing in disguise for the band. It was shocking with the announcement of Bruno Mars playing the half time show & not Jovi. Even people who hate the band were surprised by the NFL's choice. Bon Jovi has been the front runner over the last several years to play the show in their hometown (If Bruce Springsteen was not considered because he played the half time show in 2008) but a part of me believes Jon didn't pursue the NFL in recent months to secure the placement because he realizes that playing the biggest event in the world without Richie Sambora in front of billions of people, would officially be the end of Bon Jovi (without Sambora).........I don't want to make this a Jon Vs Sambora fight (even though I'm against Sambora walking out on the band & the fans with his personal issues.........I just think Jon (whether you like the way he is handling the Sambora situation or not) does not want to ruin any chance of Sambora returning to the band in the future..........I believe Jon as the CEO knows that them playing the halftime show without Sambora sends the wrong message to the public......Jon always thinks long term and maybe he knows that this was best for Bon Jovi to survive this turmoil.......We all know the connections/Relationship with the NFL and I'm sure both parties had preliminary talks about the SuperBowl earlier in the year and in recent months JUST I truly believe Jon didn't pursue it thinking that he would be in the best interest of the band not too.........I know everyone has their opinion on Jon as the CEO/leader of the band and how he has handled this whole Sambora situation but I truly believe that with Jon's leadership skills, the band will pull through in the future.

So basically what you said in that big paragraph could be summarised into "Jon didn't want to play the half time show because Richie isn't with them at the moment."

What if Jon really wanted to play the half time show but the NFL guys thought that Bon Jovi sounded shit and without their lead guitarist it would just be a suicidal embarrassment out there with millions of people watching.

I think if Jon really wanted to play the half time show, he could've done it, but decided against it without Sambora. I'm saying Jon, despite all the tension with Sambora, maybe made a level headed decision no matter what his personal feelings of Sambora are. In a way, I take it as positive in the right direction that Jon realizes Richie is an important figure of the band.......Hopefully Sambora will realize one day the synergy between him and Jon is greater than the sum of their two individual careers.

As for the NFL saying no to the new guitar player, you could be right. Maybe they did give Jon a timeline to sort out his organization before guaranteeing Jon the slot.......but my gut feeling tells me that maybe it was more Jon's decision to not perform.

I think its less Jon as CEO making the decision and more the fact that band just aren't in a position to play that event.

From what I've read around the topic, the NFL have been looking to move towards younger performers for the half time show. Couple that with the fact this is the least popular and most saturated Jovi have been for a long time and an AWOL lead guitarist, they were never going to get picked even if Jon had pushed for it (regardless of his relationship with the movers and shakers of the sport).

Bruno Mars was a good choice, he skews slightly older than alot of young artists out there, loads of hit singles, has a proper (and very talented backing band) - he ticks the boxes required imo.

isn't richie wanting to come back now?

Wouldn't the superbowl be a perfect place to reunite and make it an even bigger deal