The Patriots and Falcons are headed to Houston for Super Bowl LI, and the "biggest sporting event in city history" will "showcase Houston as a thriving city and destination." The host region boasts "warm winter weather, 20,000 reserved hotel rooms, a 72,000-seat retractable-roof stadium," a nine-day fan festival at Discovery Green and a "no-fly zone over the entire city." A "perimeter will be established around NRG Stadium with law-enforcement personnel limiting unauthorized marketing to protect the game's sponsors" (
HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 1/22). Two weeks out, the forecast for game day, Feb. 5, is "partly cloudy" and a high of 73 (
WEATHER.com, 1/23).
Las Vegas sports books "opened the Patriots as 3-point favorites" over the Falcons, making the Pats the betting favorite in the Super Bowl for the "sixth time in the past 13 years" (LASVEGASSUN.com, 1/22). The average resale price of a Super Bowl ticket was $5,101 as of last night after the conference title games, according to SeatGeek. If prices hold, that would make it the most expensive Super Bowl ticket in SeatGeek's database dating back to the '10 season (THE DAILY).
Front-Page Headlines ... Boston Globe: "A Super Rendezvous With History" ... Boston Herald: "Super Heroes" ... Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Super Stomp." ... Houston Chronicle: "City Beefs Up Super Bowl Ground Game" ... Green Bay Press-Gazette: "Run And Done" ... Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Patriots' Day" ... The conference title games also dominated tabloid back pages.
