Could a new stadium for the San Diego Chargers secure a Super Bowl for San Diego after 2021?
As announced on Tuesday afternoon, NFL owners have named the host cities for the next three Super Bowls — a list headlined by Los Angeles, who just this year will be making its return to the NFL scene.
Super Bowl LIII will be held in Atlanta in 2019, LVI will take place in Miami in 2020, and of course Los Angeles for LV in 2021.
It is no coincidence that two of the three winning cities — LA and Atlanta — will be home to newly minted stadiums in the next three years.
Atlanta will see Mercedes-Benz Stadium open in 2017, and City of Champions Stadium will open its doors in 2019.
The third stadium – Sun Life Stadium – will be undergoing $450 million in renovations before its sixth Super Bowl, and third since 2007.
By 2021, four of the last six Super Bowls will have been played in a stadium three years of younger, with Levi’s Stadium and US Bank Stadium joining Mercedes-Benz Stadium and City of Champions Stadium.
All of this points to San Diego being a likely future home for the Big Game after 2021, if in fact the Chargers are able to stay put.
Hopes for a new downtown home have improved lately, and the possibility of a Super Bowl will hopefully jolt the negotiations.