Rumors that the NFL stadium rising in Inglewood will host a Super Bowl in the near future began swirling almost as soon as the league allowed the Rams to return to Los Angeles in January. Now, with team owners meeting Tuesday to vote on host cities for Super Bowls LIII, LIV, and LV, it looks increasingly certain that those rumors will become reality. A high-ranking NFL official tells the LA Daily News that Los Angeles will "absolutely" be chosen to host a Super Bowl as soon as 2020.
The Rams stadium, expected to be complete by 2019, is competing against stadiums in Atlanta, South Florida, and Tampa Bay for hosting responsibilities for Super Bowls LIV and LV, to be held in 2020 and 2021. The fact that Los Angeles is in the running to host the 2020 event at all is an extremely encouraging sign. The NFL appears to have changed a longstanding rule that requires stadiums to operate for two years before hosting a Super Bowl, with LA's bid specifically in mind.
The very first Super Bowl (which then went by the less auspicious title of the AFL-NFL Championship Game) was held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 1967. Six more Super Bowls were held in Los Angeles after that, but the city has not had the opportunity to host a game since the Rams left town in 1994. The push to bring the event to Inglewood has been led by Rams owner Stan Kroenke, along with LA Olympic bid mastermind Casey Wasserman and Los Angeles Sports & Entertainment Commission president Kathryn S. Schloessman. Mayor Eric Garcetti has also spoken about the significance of bringing America's unofficial holiday back to the city after all these years.
As the Daily News points out, the financial impact of hosting a Super Bowl could potentially be enormous. Other cities have raked in billions of dollars when hosting, and Los Angeles businesses are eager to see some of that super money after a drought of more than 20 years.
The signs are all pointing very strongly toward LA hosting one of the two Super Bowls it's a contender for. Of course, the NFL owners are a fickle bunch, and if the decision process is anything like the soap opera that brought the Rams back to Los Angeles in the first place, it's anyone's guess as to what could happen.
- Bonsignore: NFL owners poised to award Los Angeles a Super Bowl next week in Charlotte [LA Daily News]
- LA's Unbuilt NFL Stadium Already in the Running to Host the Super Bowl [Curbed LA]
- Take a Good Look Around Los Angeles's Future NFL Stadium [Curbed LA]
- Behind the Scenes, the NFL's Return to Los Angeles Was Basically a High School Movie [Curbed LA]
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