Super Bowl History of Host Cities and Locations

When you look at the list of Super Bowl host cities, you can see one very common theme –  most of these cities are in warm climate areas.

Despite the successful tradition of the Super Bowl being played in warmer regions, the NFL has branched out into colder climates to showcase the biggest game of the year. Typically, these games are played indoor as was the case in 2018 when the city of Minneapolis, MN, hosted Super Bowl LII. But, just like most things in life, there was an exception to this cold weather rule – Super Bowl XLVIII, was played at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ.

For the first time ever, the Super Bowl was played outdoors in a cold weather climate and generated some controversy due to the NFL’s selection for a notoriously cold host city. The game was played between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks to an outcome (43-8) that was as unenjoyable as the weather was expected to be, but mother nature cooperated and temperatures approached record highs that day despite early forecasts calling for snow and rain.

East Rutherford’s groundbreaking Super Bowl ties the city with Dallas-Fort Worth Metro, Indianapolis and Jacksonville for hosting the Super Bowl one time. If you were wondering, the city of Miami has played host to the NFL’s biggest game 11 times.  Close behind is the city of New Orleans, which has hosted the Super Bowl 10 times and is scheduled to host their 11th big game in 2025.

Not far behind, we have the Los Angeles metropolitan area that has played the host role seven times. However, the Los Angeles metro area hasn’t hosted a Super Bowl in over two decades. But, that drought won’t last much longer as the greater Los Angeles region is pegged to host the 2022 Super Bowl.

Like Los Angeles, Minneapolis broke their 26 year drought by hosting the 2018 Super Bowl. The success of that 2018 event will definitely influence the NFL’s course of action as they look to choose more cold weather host cities.

It seems that the NFL has created its own reunion tour of sorts as they also broke the longest host city drought by playing Super Bowl 50 in the San Francisco Bay Area (Santa Clara) after a 31 year drought. The NFL ended Atlanta’s near-two decade drought by hosting the 2019 Super Bowl at the Falcons’ new home – the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

With Minneapolis, Atlanta, and Los Angeles all being relieved of their droughts, San Diego’s 16 year, and counting, drought is currently the longest one.

Economic Impact on Cities Hosting Super Bowl

There is much debate about the net economic effect that hosting a Super Bowl has on a city’s bottom line.  Typical reports about windfalls for host cities are grossly exaggerated.  An extreme example of this came in 2015 in Glendale, Arizona in which a study estimated the economic impact of hosting the Super Bowl resulted in a $720 million boost to the Arizona economy.  The reality is that the study included basically all revenue for the state (not the difference between the Super Bowl year and a non Super Bowl year) and it included several days surrounding the Super Bowl when it would be hard to conclude the majority of revenue generated was coming from outside sources.

This doesn’t mean cities don’t make money hosting the Super Bowl.  They do generate a good amount of tax revenue for one.  On the whole, the true estimated economic impact of a large metro area is somewhere around $92 million in added revenue versus the average week in that city (this estimate varies so wildly that some economists conclude that cities can actually lose money by hosting the event).  What headlines about huge revenues coming into cities don’t tell you is that a fluctuation of that amount is not statistically significant to cities that already produce huge revenues.  Taken against a host city’s best weeks of the year, the week they host the Super Bowl may not even be their most profitable period.

List of Super Bowl Locations

Super Bowl List of Stadiums

While Miami may have a share of the lead for most times a city has hosted the Super Bowl, it’s the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans that has the lead for most times a stadium has hosted the event. Note that many stadiums have changed names over the years despite remaining in the same location. Their current name is the one listed below.

Future Super Bowl Hosts

Super Bowl locations are determined several years in advance.  Here is a list of the future Super Bowl cities and stadiums through 2027.