Should the Super Bowl have a permanent home?
That seems to be a popular opinion this week as the activities for Super Bowl LX get underway in the Bay Area. And many have suggested one city in particular that should serve as the host every year for the Big Game.
This year’s game is being held at Levi’s Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers, which is actually located in Santa Clara, California. That means it’s about an hour away from the city where much of the festivities are taking place to get to the actual stadium for the game. And to make things worse, the opening night ceremonies were held at the San Jose Convention Center, which some media members reported being as much as a two hour drive with traffic.
Now, this isn’t the first time the Bay Area has hosted a Super Bowl. The game was also held at Levi’s Stadium back in 2016, when the Denver Broncos defeated the Carolina Panthers. And the 1986 game was hosted by Stanford Stadium, which is also about a 45 minute drive (without traffic) from downtown San Francisco.
The problem is that, with most of the attendees staying in San Francisco, and the traffic in the area, it seems to have become a logistical nightmare getting around the area.
There have already been plenty of complaints from people in town for the game (some who didn’t seem to realize beforehand that the stadium was 40 miles away), and it’s gotten to the point that some have said they would be shocked if the area is awarded another Super Bowl in the future.
The NFL generally announces the Super Bowl host cities around 3 years out. The league has moved away from having cities submit competitive bids, and instead in recent years focuses on one target city each year. So far the location for 2027 (Los Angeles) and 2028 (Atlanta) have already been announced, with 2029 expected to go to Las Vegas and 2030 expected to go to the new Nissan Stadium in Nashville.
But it seems that many at the Super Bowl would be fine having just one city host the Super Bowl every year: New Orleans.
The Big Easy hosted the Super Bowl last year, the city’s record 11th time serving as the host city for the big game (tied with Miami). And I’m a little biased because I used to live in New Orleans (and was living there in 2013 when they hosted the game), but it really is the perfect Super Bowl city.
There are plenty of hotel rooms close to the Superdome, there’s plenty of nightlife and restaurants, and pretty much everything in downtown New Orleans is within walking distance, meaning it’s a breeze to get from one location to another. There are also several venues that can serve as host for activities, from Champion’s Square outside of the Dome to the massive convention center that’s only about a mile away.
It’s perfect. And let’s be honest: No city knows how to throw a party better than New Orleans.
And it’s not just me who thinks New Orleans should host the Super Bowl every year:
Of course New Orleans wouldn’t be able to host the game every year, because there are some years when the game would conflict with Mardi Gras. That’s the case in 2032, which is why New Orleans is choosing to bid to host the 2031 game instead.
And I’m sure the NFL wants to keep the game moving around. But others have suggested a 5-city rotation rather than giving everybody a chance to host when some cities clearly just do it better:
As a New Orleans enthusiast myself (I’ll be down there next weekend for the parades – Hail Tucks), I couldn’t agree more that the city should be in regular rotation to host the big game. Whether that’s every 5 years or whatever the NFL decides, there’s nowhere that throws a party better than the Big Easy.
And you don’t even have to drive 2 hours to get to the stadium.
