Today it was announced that the city of Atlanta would host the 2019 Super Bowl. It was pretty much a lock, but it is still very exciting news that this city has been awarded the honor of hosting such a prestigious event. Owner Arthur Blank felt that the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium would not only attract people in Georgia, but people throughout the United States and the world. The stadium will be fully built and host events by 2017. The stadium cost $1.4 billion and it will have a retractable roof.
This will mark the third time Atlanta has hosted a Super Bowl, with the most recent one being in 2000. Mercedes-Benz Stadium has been making more national headlines then our beloved teams, as it was announced it would host the College Football National Championship in 2018, the Super Bowl in 2019, and the College Basketball Final Four in 2020. Blank knew that the only way Atlanta would be able to host a Super Bowl was if a new stadium was built.
With this spectacular stadium being built, it puts more pressure on the Falcons to do better. They have performed under expectations the past couple of years, and it looks as if head coach Dan Quinn has installed a mindset of winning. He and general manager Thomas Dimitroff have a lot of pressure on them to turn this team around, as Blank has been antsy to get back to the organization’s winning ways. With a new stadium and now being elected the 2019 host city for the Super Bowl, Blank will definitely want his team in contention by then.
The city of Atlanta and all of its people should take this as a victory. Hosting the Super Bowl is a very big deal, and the revenue brought in will be mind-boggling. There is one downside to this and that will be Atlanta traffic on steroids. Plan accordingly and if you attend the game or events downtown, get there several hours early. Other than that, it is a spectacular honor for our city to be hosting this event.