Happy Friday! This Sunday the 57th Super Bowl will touch down in Arizona at the Eisenman- and Populous-designed State Farm Stadium, home to the country’s first retractable field. Whether you’re singing “fly Eagles, fly!” or doing the racist Chiefs chant and “tomahawk chop” (please don’t), here’s all the design news you need to know as you crush some cold ones with the guys and gorge on seven-layer dip this Super Bowl Sunday:
Images of Arizona landscapes will be projected across a face of State Farm Stadium
Players and spectators entering State Farm Stadium for Sunday’s big matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs, will be met by a 50,000-square-foot wrap that celebrates the beautiful landscapes of Arizona. Twenty-four projectors, 30,000 lumens, and a special canvas fabric form the graphic display, which is a three-minute-long video that flips through images of the Grand Canyon State’s geographic highlights, including Horseshoe Bend and the Superstition Mountains. The pictures will be imposed within letters that spell out LVII, denoting the 57th Super Bowl.
In an interview with a local news station, NFL Director of Events Daphne Wood shared that the installation is the largest wrap the NFL has ever commissioned. She added that State Farm Stadium is the only football stadium in the country able to install a digital work of the size.
In addition to images of canyons, deserts, and lakes, the projected work will also show off highlights from the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles highlights.
The projection will play on a loop from the sunset before kick off through until 6 a.m. Monday morning.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art and Kansas City’s Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art enter a Super Bowl bet
Two art institutions have made a very large wager for this year’s Super Bowl. The Philadelphia Museum of Art and Kansas City’s Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art have promised to lend a piece from their collection should their city’s team not come out victorious on Sunday night.
“When the Eagles soar to victory, we will warmly greet our friends from the Nelson-Atkins and treat them to unforgettable cheesesteaks here in Philadelphia,” Philadelphia Art Museum director and CEO Sasha Suda said. “They have such a remarkable collection, and we will be thrilled to share a piece of it with our visitors, in a very special Point After Touchdown. We’ll make it feel right at home in our galleries and display it with Philly pride.”
“We expect to offer our Philadelphia friends something they’ll long remember after the Chiefs make short work of the Eagles,” said Julian Zugazagoitia, director and CEO of Nelson-Atkins. “Philadelphia’s museum has so many amazing works, and they will see how wonderful the PMA loan will appear in our beautiful galleries. We won’t let them leave, of course, before they can taste the best of Kansas City barbecue.”
Art-minded spectators can follow this can’t-be-missed matchup online using #MuseumBowl23.
H/t to The Philadelphia Inquirer
New grass and new seating offerings at State Farm Stadium
Attendees looking for luxury and comfort at this year’s Super Bowl are in luck. The NFL and construction crews at State Farm Stadium have added dozens of new seating options ahead of Sunday’s game, with several suites and an entirely new club. The news suites line the main concourse of the stadium, while the new club and lox box seating will occupy the entire south end zone. These plans have been in the works for two years. In addition to interior spaces, the NFL has also added experiences outside the stadium walls.
While the main event for most spectators is the game, for others it is the half time show that draws their attention. Like the game, the half time show performance by Rihanna will take place on the field. The grass underfoot the players and stage base is a hybrid of Bermuda and perennial rye that been grown over the last year at a local sod farm. It was cut into roles measuring 3.5 feet by 40 feet long and was rolled out into place on the stadium’s retractable field tray. Following installation, the turf was painted over with the special Super Bowl logos.
H/t to Phoenix Business Journal and AZ Central
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