Atlanta this afternoon at the NFL owners' meetings in Charlotte was awarded the right to host the Super Bowl in '19 at its new $1.4B Mercedes-Benz Stadium, while South Florida was awarded the '20 game at an upgraded Dolphins' venue. The new stadium in Inglewood, Calif., will host the game in '21. Atlanta beat out Tampa, South Florida and New Orleans for the '19 game (Daniel Kaplan, Staff Writer).
Meanwhile, On Location Experiences, the NFL’s official hospitality provider, will receive an additional allocation of Super Bowl tickets through an expansion of its relationship with the league. On Location now has the ability to create up to 9,500 fan travel and hospitality packages to meet growing demand and create new and custom opportunities (NFL). The league in the past has given 17.5% of its Super Bowl ticket allotment "to each of the participating teams." Beyond that, the league keeps 25% (the tickets already made available to On Location come from this allocation), the host team gets 5% and the "remaining tickets flow to the other 29 clubs" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 5/23 issue).
NFL owners today also voted to “marginally expand” the instant replay system to “cover game administration issues and to allow for on-field officials to consult” with NFL HQ for application of playing rules. Game administration includes “penalty enforcement, proper down, spot of a foul [and] status of game clock” (USATODAY.com, 5/24).
49ers CEO Jed York while in for the owners' meeting "donated $75,000 toward the effort to repeal North Carolina’s anti-LGBT House Bill 2." York today "announced the donation to the Equality North Carolina Foundation." York said that he "wanted to do something to assist with the local efforts to repeal HB 2 while in town" (EBAR.com, 5/24).
