Yesterday morning I flew out of Cincinnati for Phoenix. I arrived at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona yesterday around 3:30 local time an hour before kickoff. There were substantial tailgate parties outside with even an enclosed area with a party inside deemed “Flavor Town” after the popular phrase coined by Guy Fieri.Walking into the game, I could see many media outlets and cameramen outside the stadium along with scalpers and merchandise sellers. The atmosphere was explosive. The music, the crowd, the players. Chris Stapleton nailed the National Anthem. My seats were relatively good at midfield surrounded by Eagles and Chiefs fans. The gameplay was amazing with back-and-forth scoring, fumble recoveries, tackles, and catches. All spectacular.
A lot of famous people were there including Lebron James, Paul McCartney, Aaron Paul, Paul Rudd, Jason Derulo, Adele, etc. There were a lot of interesting statistics on screen. Another cool aspect was how many people they honored. Dak Prescott was there to receive the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award and the 2023 Hall of Fame inductees were there along with a lot of military men and women who we all cheered for. Rihanna performed at halftime and absolutely killed it, needless to say, she’s still got it.
Going into the half, The Chiefs were down 10 but I knew the game was far from over. As you all saw, The Chiefs ended up coming from behind and winning the football game 38-35. But aside from the game, even the theatrics were amazing. The Chiefs and Eagles cheerleaders performed shows for the crowd in their respective endzones. Another cool thing was on the monitors in the stadium at one point, they displayed a QR code you could scan and there was a chance you could be shown on the monitor from your phone camera.
The decorations and colors also added to the cool effect and the partial opening in the stadium allowed cool air to flow in and for the fans in the stadium to see the pyrotechnics in the sky right above the roof. There are so many interesting things at the game that you’d miss at home. The amount of tourism on the way to the stadium was remarkable. State Farm Stadium is built seemingly in a middle-class suburban community so it almost seems out of place from how large it looks compared to everything around it. We parked for 25 dollars on someone’s private property.
What was also interesting is how many fans of other teams and neutral parties there were. I saw Cardinals jerseys since we were in their home stadium, but also a lot of other jerseys of teams like the Patriots, Packers, Jets, Steelers, and even Cowboys. At the conclusion of the game, the confetti shot out in red and yellow, and Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes hoisted the Lombardi trophy. A truly surreal experience because I heard former Steelers quarterback and media personality, Terry Bradshaw talking on the mic in front of those of us who stayed to watch the trophy being presented. The NFL players and their families were also there and I ran into Dak Prescott. It was an amazing night.
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