Super Bowl odds 2016: Panthers holding steady as 5.5-point favorites over the Broncos
The line hasn’t moved much at all this week.
I’m not sure how it compares specifically to past Super Bowls, but the line for this year’s is as steady as a 24-year-old marathon runner’s resting heartbeat. The Carolina Panthers have been the clear favorites since the conference championships wrapped up two weeks ago. With just a few hours to go until kickoff, Cam Newton and co. are favored by an average of 5.5 points.
A handful of books had the Panthers at -3.5 when betting opened last month. Most have held steady, moving from -4 or -5 to where they are now. Bovada has had the Panthers favored by six points the whole time, and they’re still sitting there on Sunday morning.
So why is the line not moving all that much? For one, there aren’t any major injuries either squad is dealing with this week. Veteran Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis has a fractured forearm, but he’s determined to play through it. It’s not clear how it will impact his play, specifically how well he can tackle with it. Broncos safeties have been banged up in the postseason, but they’ve been practicing all week without limits.
It also doesn’t hurt that nobody was arrested -- only a Broncos practice squad safety got sent in a prostitution sweep by local vice cops. Distractions have been minimal, except for the constant swarm of cameras surrounding the players.
The majority of the money coming in from bettors so far has been on the Panthers, anywhere from 70 to 80 percent. Needless to say, that has bookmakers and Las Vegas rooting hard for the Broncos to win, or at least cover that very stable spread.
The over/under is set for 40 points, according to OddsShark. A few books have it as high as 45 points. Most of the action is on these two teams scoring more than 40 points though.
