Here in New Orleans, we noted with more than passing and casual interest of the staging and
the follow-up stories from the recent Super Bowl in Las Vegas. We have an interest because our
city is up next to host what has become the pre-eminent annual event in American sports.
We are not virgins to this responsibility, having done this already 10 times before in the Super
Bowl’s’ history of games dating back to 1967. After our time next February 11, we will have
hosted the game more than any other community, except Miami with whom we are tied for
number of contests staged.
What is most interesting to note, however, are the stylistic differences between this year’s host
city and next year’s host. Let’s look at Las Vegas and New Orleans in the bright shining
spotlight of the Super Bowl.
I cannot imagine two cities being more different than Las Vegas and New Orleans. Stylistically,
both towns are devoted to the same thing, hospitality, but the similarity ends there. New
Orleans qualifies as one of our nation’s oldest communities, over 300 years. Las Vegas
qualifies as one of the nation’s newest boom towns, founded 1905 and settlement began in 1911.
New Orleans was founded as a transportation and freight moving center. Las Vegas was built to
entice people from Los Angeles and Southern California to come to the desert and gamble.
Both goals have a place in our society, obviously. Thanks to New Orleans French and Spanish
roots, the lifestyle of the area soon divided into different activities from the American and British
ways of the rest of the newly-formed nation.
New Orleans grew and prospered in the middle 1800’s but the Civil War knocked the town and
the entire Southern United States down significantly. Las Vergas has had a few recent setbacks,
such as the effects of the Covid Pandemic, the downturns in the US Economy, and the
sociological effects which tend to come and go. But overall, Las Vegas has weathered the tough
times and prospered.
What makes these two back to back super events interesting is the inability to really measure
them side-by-side in terms of comparison from a fan’s experience or outward manifestations of
what is seen as one of the earth’s great events.
The real point of this diatribe, to this point, is that these two cities hosting a key American event
are as different as they can be. Not to say one is better than the other, but I have a thought that
if you asked the average fan which city would they prefer to visit, it’s likely to be an even outcome,
or an outcome based on income and age. Both cities can fill up a stadium, attract a sizeable TV
audience, stage a terrific football game and halftime show.
But both cities are as different as the children in a large family from the oldest to the youngest.
Stay tuned for the latest updates on the 2025 game in New Orleans. We are excited to be
involved for the 11th time.
