Inside the chaos of Super Bowl LIX opening night as the Chiefs and Eagles take over New Orleans
Tow trucks descended on the French Quarter of New Orleans on Sunday night. Their job, according to one amused local? Drain the streets of vehicles and clear the way for an invasion.
More than 100,000 fans are expected to descend on this basin ahead of Super Bowl Sunday, when the Kansas City Chiefs can make history and the Philadelphia Eagles can exact revenge.
The countdown began on Monday night, when both teams, brass bands and few thousands fans gathered at Caesars Superdome for ‘Opening night’.
No city has had more practice than New Orleans at dealing with the NFL caravan. This is the 11th Super Bowl here. It’s nothing new for the people and tow trucks of Louisiana.
They know what can go wrong – 12 years ago, the lights inside the Superdome turned off and 34 minutes of Super Bowl Sunday was lost to blackout. They know, too, that some things don’t change.
The Chiefs are here for the fifth time in six seasons and, on Monday night, most of the cameras and most of the microphones swarmed around one chair. Just as they did in Las Vegas last year.
The Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles kicked off Super Bowl week on Monday night
A scrum of reporters hear from Eagles star Saquon Barkley at Caesars Superdome
Shortly before 9pm, Travis Kelce took a seat at podium four and the mayhem resumed.
Groundhog Day came and went over the weekend and yet, in New Orleans, a sense of deja vu lingered until Monday night. The same faces. The same goal. The same questions about glory and records and Taylor Swift.
On Monday night alone, Kelce was asked four times to name his favorite Kendrick Lamar song. Except, of course, so much is different. The Chiefs can become the first team in Super Bowl history to win three on the spin.
More significantly, so much has changed here since the turn of the year, when Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove his truck down Bourbon St and this city was devastated by a deadly terror attack. Last month, New Orleans turned white after the heaviest blizzard since 1895. Only a few days ago, a plane fell out of the sky in Philadelphia.
These are difficult, different times. And it is against this backdrop of tragedy and trauma that New Orleans plays host to old rivals.
The Chiefs and the Eagles meet two years on from Super Bowl LVII, when Kansas City won 38-35 in Glendale, Arizona. Kelce is still here. So is quarterback Patrick Mahomes. So are head coach Andy Reid and many of his roster.
The Eagles are still led by Jalen Hurts and Nick Sirianni, too. But since February 2023 they have lost Jason Kelce and gained a new superstar.
It was no coincidence that the seat of podium four was still warm when Kelce arrived. A scrum of reporters had just spent an hour picking the brains of Saquon Barkley.
Head coaches Nick Sirianni and Andy Reid shake hands next to the Vince Lombardi Trophy
Performers and musicians from New Orleans helped usher in Super Bowl week on Monday
The running back has enjoyed a remarkable first season in Philadelphia. He turns 28 on Sunday and could enjoy the best gift of all.
These are the weeks Barkley has always dreamt of but never could he have envisioned some the questions fired his way at the Superdome.
Barkley was asked about his favorite Nickelodeon show and how he ‘keeps things fresh in the bedroom’. Yes, really.
He discussed quesadillas and bunker shots. He was gifted a helmet and birthday towel and a necklace that read: ‘MVP’. That’s par for the course at this circus.
On Monday night, players were asked to sing AC/DC and play rock paper scissors. They were asked if they played Wordle and which team got the better of the Luka Doncic trade.
Sirianni was gifted a bag of fan mail from Mexico City; Kelce was asked for the Chiefs’ gameplan by a man dressed as Sirianni. NFL quarterback Jameis Winston made a couple of cameos which largely involved chucking cookies.
‘Big Dom’, the Eagles’ chief security officer, patrolled the field but nothing could shield his players from the barrage. Buried under the avalanche of drivel, there were moments of poignancy and raw honesty.
Barkley, for instance, spoke with emotion about his daughter Jada – recalling how she was there for him in 2020, when he tore his knee and learned to walk again.
The Kansas City Chiefs cheerleaders joined the players and the coaches at the Superdome
Kelce did not shy away from his college days and a failed drugs test – here back in 2010 – that almost derailed everything.
The talking will stop eventually but questions will remain right up until Sunday evening, when two fine teams will meet again at the Superdome.
Can Patrick Mahomes do what Tom Brady never could and win three in a row? Can the Eagles right the wrongs of two years ago?
New Orleans is gearing up for Mardi Gras next month but first, another party. It began on Monday night, when spotlights lit up the Superdome roof and a silhouette of Julius Caesar.
The only question everyone really needs answering? Who will wear the crown come Sunday night?
