Bet On It: Will The Earth Move During The Super Bowl?
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – Among the dozens of proposition bets for Super Bowl Sunday is one that takes note of the Bay Area's sometimes shaky foundation.
According Bovada.lv's Super Bowl 50 prop bets, it's a 10-to-1 bet that there will be an earthquake of some magnitude during Sunday's game.
To win $10 for every $1 you bet, the announcer has to verbally indicate on-air that there has been an earthquake.
The wager hearkens back to the 1989 Bay Bridge World Series between the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants.
Moments before the start of Game 3 at San Francisco's Candlestick Park, viewers heard ABC's Al Michaels say -- "I'll tell you what, we're having an earth…" and then the transmission went dead.
A 6.9 magnitude earthquake had rocked the Bay Area. When the dust settled, a stretch of major East Bay freeway was left in ruins, a section of the Bay Bridge had collapsed, there were fires and collapsed buildings in San Francisco's Marina District and the Series was put on hold. Fortunately, no one was injured by the quake at Candlestick Park.
The quake killed 63 people, injured another 3,757 and caused billions in damage.
The Series was delayed for 10 days and then resumed with the A's winning the next two games to complete a sweep of the Giants.
The U.S. Geological Survey says there is a 6.4 percent chance for a 6.7 or larger earthquake on the northern section of the San Andreas fault near San Francisco in the next 30 years.
