The NFL has awarded the city of Atlanta the honor of hosting Super Bowl LIII in February 2019. Later, the league announced that Miami will host Super Bowl LIV in 2020 while Los Angeles landed Super Bowl LV in 2021.
The NFL owners voted on bids from Atlanta, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans and Tampa Bay at Tuesday's meeting. New Orleans put in a bid for 2019 only, while LA was only in the running for the Super Bowl in 2021.
All five cities were instructed to put together their best pitches to bring them to the NFL spring meetings in Charlotte on Tuesday. Notably, Atlanta and Los Angeles have new football stadiums springing up, which is always a selling point. Last season's Super Bowl was played in the recently constructed Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif, while Super Bowl LII will take place in the yet-to-be-opened U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, future home of the Minnesota Vikings.
The first balloting for the 2019 Super Bowl host city resulted in no city receiving the requisite 24 votes to advance to the second ballot, and each of the four cities remained on the ballot for the next round of voting. Atlanta and New Orleans moved on to the third round of voting, but Atlanta won out.
New Orleans has hosted the Super Bowl a total of 10 times, but it's clear the league is giving incentives to cities to get new stadiums constructed -- and all the better if this construction is supported with public funding.
The Falcons fall into the category of having a shiny new stadium when Mercedes-Benz Stadium opens in 2018. Falcons owner Arthur Blank wanted to host the big game as soon as possible and pushed hard for the 2019 bid.
Part of Blank's push concerned the concession stand prices at the new stadium. The team boasted about its cheaper food and drink and suggested that these prices would continue into the Super Bowl, a rarity in the NFL and sports in general.
The last time Atlanta played host to the Super Bowl was in 2000, when the St. Louis Rams edged the Tennessee Titans in a thriller. Titans wide receiver Kevin Dyson was tackled a yard short of the goal line as the clock ran out, giving the Rams the 23-16 win.