SAN FRANCISCO — For the first time since 1985, the crown jewel of the NFL season will be hosted in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Super Bowl XIX was hosted at Stanford Stadium, but much has changed prior to Super Bowl 50.
Stanford Stadium, the host venue in 1985, has since been renovated, and the 50,000 seating capacity certainly wouldn't fill the requirements of today's Super Bowls.
Members of the San Francisco Super Bowl host committee addressed the media on Monday.
The San Francisco 49ers, this year's host team, have also relocated from Candlestick Park to Levi's Stadium, located in Santa Clara.
In the heart of Silicon Valley, Super Bowl 50 hopes to provide a technological milestone in the evolution of the NFL's championship game.
"It's going to be the first Super Bowl where we are having merchandise delivered to seats, having beverages delivered to seats," San Francisco 49ers CEO Jed York said. "The stadium is ready to roll."
The Bay Area also presents a geographic challenge for the host committee, with events spread across four major cities.
Mayors from San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Jose and Oakland held a joint press event to discuss the collaboration needed to pull off such an event.
"This has been a great journey," Santa Clara Mayor Jamie Matthews told the media. "All the mayors have come together through the host committee to have their events sanctioned as part of the overall Super Bowl excitement."
The Twin Cities will face a similar opportunity in just two years as the host region of Super Bowl LII. While the event still has many details to be ironed out, events will no doubt be spread between Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Like Levi's Stadium, U.S. Bank Stadium will also be hosting the event after its second season in operation. Similar advances in technology will also take center stage in 2018, when the Super Bowl is played in downtown Minneapolis.
In addition to the NFL's only video boards manufactured (by Daktronics in Redwood Falls) in the same state as the venue, U.S. Bank Stadium will feature a state-of-the-art LED lighting system that is the first of its kind in a new NFL venue.
The system from Ephesus Lighting will enable a **longer halftime show** than most venues because of the instant-off, instant-on capability of LED lights.
