New Orleans will soon learn if a Super Bowl is in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome‘s future, as its pitch for Super Bowl LVIII will be considered this week.
New Orleans has been a popular destination for the Super Bowl over the years, with the Superdome being a major factor in the city’s ability to land the game on a fairly consistent basis. Starting with Super Bowl XII in 1978, the stadium has hosted seven Super Bowls, with the most recent being Super Bowl XLVII in 2013.
Officials are now hoping that Super Bowl LVIII, scheduled for 2024, will be the next one to be played at the stadium. New Orleans was previously approached by the NFL about the possibility of hosting Super Bowl LVIII–part of a new site selection process explained by our own Jesse Goldberg-Strassler in February–and will pitch its case for the game on Wednesday. More from The New Orleans Advocate:
[Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation president and CEO Jay] Cicero, who was standing at his computer to keep an eye on a major event bill coming up for a vote, walks across the room and sits at another table surrounded by four chairs from the Final Four, a reminder of all the work that he, Sam Joffray and the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation do for the city. There’s a reason he was watching the vote so closely. Despite bringing events like both the men’s and women’s Final Four, the College Football National Championship and Wrestlemania here, the NFL hasn’t held its showcase event in New Orleans since 2013 despite the location being a favorite of many people in the league.
There is a reason to believe the drought will end. New Orleans has hosted the game 10 times and knows how to put together a bid. The odds of getting the “yes” votes when Saints owner Gayle Benson and president Dennis Lauscha present the proposal are fairly high, even if it isn’t a given. On the other hand, being the only bid under consideration comes with a unique brand of stress. The Foundation knows that it would be black eye – or worse — if something unexpected happens and things go sideways when New Orleans is the only city bidding on the game.
“When you hear that the new process is in place where you think it’s a shoe-in because we’re the only one invited, it’s just not,” Cicero said. “It’s this huge question mark and different pressure, a different kind of anxiety associated with it. We’re not constantly thinking, ‘What do we have to do to beat Dallas?’”
Joffray interjected: “Now it’s what we have to do to not lose to ourselves, because if you come out of there with a no vote, then that’s worse than coming out and being beat by a new stadium.”
The site for Super Bowl LVIII is not the only one that could be finalized soon, as Arizona is set to make a similar pitch for Super Bowl LVII, which will be played in 2023. Overall, New Orleans has hosted 10 Super Bowls, with its first three taking place at Tulane Stadium.
Image courtesy Mercedes-Benz Superdome.