As Super Bowl 54 approaches, Marlins Park gets ready to host Opening Night
Hard Rock Stadium is the venue to know for Super Bowl 54 when the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs face off on Feb. 2.
But for one night, Marlins Park the home of the Miami Marlins built on the site of the former Orange Bowl where five of Miami’s record-setting 11 Super Bowls took place will have the limelight.
The baseball stadium will be the site of Super Bowl’s Opening Night on Monday, the first time both teams will be available to the media for game week and the only time both teams will be in the same venue together until game day. Doors open at 5 p.m., and each team will have a one-hour media session. The Chiefs go first at 7 p.m., followed by the 49ers at 9 p.m.
“It’s a privilege for us to be part of the kickoff to the week,” Marlins chief revenue officer Adam Jones said Friday. “This is a venue that we strongly believe is one of the key community assets that when big events come to town, it’s a great venue to showcase those productions.”
And the ballpark is undergoing a brief transformation to make Monday night possible.
Temporary seating has been installed in the infield just in front of home plate, with a bridge that will connect that seating to the main concourse.
A podium is being erected just beyond where the pitcher’s mound usually rests.
All the video boards and electronic banners looping around the ballpark have the phrase “LIV Opening Night” with a blue background and palm trees.
“A very atypical use of what’s typically a ballpark and a baseball field,” Jones said.
But it provides the ballpark with positive exposure and is allowing the NFL to do more to allow fans to become immersed in the fanfare to start Super Bowl week.
For the first time, fans will be allowed onto the floor where interviews take place, according to NFL senior director of event operations Eric Finkelstein.
“Marlins Park gives us the opportunity to have the flexibility to fit more fans,” Finkelstein said. “It’s a bigger space than a lot of places where we’ve been to do this event. We’ve done them in arenas and other smaller spaces, but since we’re in a much larger space, it gives us that opportunity to bring fans right into the action and see all the different interactions.”
Other highlights of Opening Night, according to Finkelstein:
▪ Interactive elements will be on hand throughout the concourse, including autograph signings. Former Miami Dolphins linebacker and potential Hall of Famer Zach Thomas, former Miami Hurricanes linebacker Jonathan Vilma and Dolphins 2019 first-round pick Christian Wilkins are expected to be in attendance.
▪ There will be a joint team appearance in between the two media sessions featuring the team captains and both head coaches.
▪ Nickelodeon will be on hand with a “slime element that fans will be able to be part of.”
▪ An 8-foot Lombardi trophy will be painted by an artist live.
▪ Every fan will be given a radio, which will allow them to listen to the different interviews as they are happening.
Tickets to attend Super Bowl’s Opening Night ceremony are available for $25 at NFL.com/SuperBowlOpeningNight.
