Where Is the Super Bowl This Year? New Stadium Makes the List of Future Hosts

Unless you live in New Orleans, Louisiana, Glendale, Arizona, or the Tampa Bay-Miami area in Florida, having the Super Bowl hosted in your favorite team's stadium is likely a rare occurrence. And it's not likely to become any more common. So, where is the Super Bowl this year? Good question. Let's take a look.

As of 2023, only three upcoming Super Bowl host cities have been named. The Big Easy will play host to its 11th Super Bowl, as New Orleans was named the home of Super Bowl LIX in 2025. Eight Super Bowls have been at the Louisiana Superdome, previously the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, and now named the Caesars Superdome. In 2024, Las Vegas, Nevada, steps up, hosting its very first Super Bowl after prying the Pro Bowl away from Hawaii.

That brings us to 2023, when Glendale — home to the Arizona Cardinals — will host Super Bowl LVII between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, Feb. 12.

Why Your Town Isn't Getting the Super Bowl Anytime Soon

The first Super Bowl was held in California at the Los Angeles Coliseum, but the next five were held either at the Orange Bowl in Miami or at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans. Those two towns accounted for 10 of the 15 Super Bowls.

There have been 11 Super Bowls in the Miami metropolitan area and 17 total in Florida, if you include the five in Tampa and the one in Jacksonville. California has hosted 13 NFL championship games, with the San Francisco 49ers' new home — Levi's Stadium — hosting Super Bowl 50.

Las Vegas will become the 16th unique region to host a Super Bowl when the big game comes to Allegiant Stadium, home of the Las Vegas Raiders, in 2024. Perhaps the Browns and the Cowboys will finally end their Super Bowl droughts in the desert.

Another reason the Super Bowl is held in only a handful of locations is the weather. Can you imagine a Super Bowl at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh? Or how about a Super Bowl hosted in Denver, where the Broncos have an edge over the Carolina Panthers? In between Super Bowl commercials, Al Michaels could react to shots of frigid fans just trying to stay warm enough to see the final game of the NFL season. You'll never see a Super Bowl kickoff in a cold climate. Even former MVP Tom Brady prefers his American football indoors where it's warm.

How Are Super Bowl Locations Chosen?

The chances of an unconventional Super Bowl host emerging became even slimmer when the NFL changed the system for selecting Super Bowl host cities, beginning with the selection of Super Bowl LVII.

Previously, prospective host cities were able to submit bids (and ostensibly influence during the bidding and voting process). That's how we ended up with MetLife Stadium, home of the New York Giants and New York Jets, hosting a Super Bowl in the 49-degree New Jersey weather. Imagine if Brady's New England Patriots had the opportunity to play a Super Bowl in Gillette Stadium.

In 2018, the NFL began unilaterally selecting a Super Bowl host city. The selected venue would THEN put its proposal together to have it rubber-stamped by the league's owners.

SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California — where the NFC champion Los Angeles Rams and Matthew Stafford defeated the AFC's Cincinnati Bengals and Joe Burrow a year ago in their Super Bowl LVI matchup — hosted the event for the first time in fantastic fashion. The Rams became the second straight team to play a Super Bowl in their home stadium after Super Bowl LV was held in Raymond James Stadium, where the Tampa Bay Buccaneers topped the Kansas City Chiefs for their second title in franchise history. We talk about home-field advantage in the NFL playoffs, but having it in the Super Bowl is another thing entirely.

Don't Forget the Music

The Super Bowl halftime show is one of the marquee events of the week — outside of the big game, of course. Last year's concert included a who's who of rap and hip-hop stars — including Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar — performing in the bright lights of Hollywood at SoFi Stadium. In 2021, The Weeknd took to the stage in Tampa, Florida, while the year before that saw Shakira and Jennifer Lopez perform, appropriately, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. With headliners like that, it's easy to see why ESPN, Fox, CBS and NBC Sports battle over the broadcast rights every year.

As much as the NFL wants to reward the AFC and NFC champions with a warm locale and an electric night life during Super Bowl week, it also wants to make sure that its selection of Super Bowl host will attract the biggest names in entertainment for the Super Bowl parties throughout the week, the pregame performances of "America the Beautiful" and "The Star Spangled Banner," and especially the halftime show.

Rihanna has already been confirmed for the Super Bowl LVII halftime show Feb. 12 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale. Something tells me that the pop sensation wouldn't be rushing to take the stage at Lambeau Field or Soldier Field in February.

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