ATLANTA — The biggest football game and television event of the year will take place right here in Atlanta on Sunday, Feb. 3. The Los Angeles Rams will take on the New England Patriots.
Super Bowl LIII will be held at Mercedes-Benz Stadium with tens of thousands of football fans from all over the country filling up the stands (and the city).
Stay with Channel 2 Action News and WSBTV.com for complete Super Bowl LIII coverage leading up to the big game. Download our news app to get FREE alerts sent to phone and tablet and find complete coverage of Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta here
Here are 10 things you may not have known about Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta:
- This will be the third Super Bowl held in Atlanta. The city previously hosted Super Bowl XXVIII in 1994 and Super Bowl XXXIV in 2000 at the Georgia Dome.
- Three other sites -- Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida; Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans; and Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida -- were also finalists to host the event. Atlanta was ultimately awarded Super Bowl LIII at the NFL Owners Meeting in 2016.
- Seven-time Grammy Award-winner Gladys Knight will be the seventh person in Super Bowl history to perform the national anthem in or near their hometown metropolitan area.
- Atlanta native and Los Angeles Rams Coach Sean McVay is heading to his first Super Bowl as an NFL head coach. He will be the youngest coach in Super Bowl history at age 33.
- Although the city will be flooded with tens of thousands of football fans, Mercedes-Benz Stadium can only hold 75,000 lucky ticket purchasers.
- Four players on the Rams and Patriots rosters played high school football in metro Atlanta. There are also three former UGA and Georgia Tech players represented in this year's Super Bowl.
- The National Football League will kick off its centennial commemorations at the big game, ahead of its 100th season.
- Several recording artists reportedly turned down this year's halftime gig, some in support of former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
- Rapper Travis Scott, who will be performing during the Super Bowl Halftime Show alongside Maroon 5 and Outkast's Big Boi, agreed to perform only if the NFL joined him in donating $500,000 to the Dream Corps, a nonprofit that advocates for social justice.
- A Georgia State University economics professor predicts metro Atlanta hotels could pile up approximately $33 million in revenue during the Super Bowl.
Cox Media Group
