Super Bowl Experience: A cheap ‘bucket-list item’ for football fans
Donnel and Michelle Woods traveled from their home in Kansas City to Las Vegas for the Super Bowl, but not to see the Chiefs. Instead, they are 49ers fans.
“No, because we still got more rings than them, and so I hold that over them,” Donnel Woods said when asked if it felt strange to be a 49ers fan from Chiefs country.
The couple were checking out the Super Bowl Experience, an event the NFL describes as a “football theme park” that takes place in each Super Bowl host city before the big game. This year’s incarnation, which opened Wednesday, is taking place through Saturday at the Mandalay Bay South Convention Center.
The highlight Wednesday was when 49ers legend Jerry Rice unveiled the NFL’s championship hardware, the Vince Lombardi Trophy. The wide receiver’s appearance sent huge cheers up from the crowd, which, judging by the sheer number of 49ers jerseys, seemed to have more San Francisco fans than Kansas City fans.
But there were football fans of all kinds, with most, if not all, NFL teams represented in the jerseys worn by attendants.
“To be honest, guys, I was nervous to hold the trophy. And you know, I don’t drop anything, right?” said Rice, a three-time Super Bowl champion with the 49ers. “But to have the opportunity to come here and deliver the trophy to the city of Las Vegas, Super Bowl 58, the first time ever, it doesn’t get any better than that.”
Like many fans at the Super Bowl Experience on Wednesday, the Woods didn’t have tickets to the Super Bowl. Michelle Woods said they would buy tickets — the lowest of which was $5,600 on Ticketmaster’s website Wednesday night — if the prices kept falling.
“We’re hoping to do under $2,000 a ticket,” Michelle Woods said.
‘Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’
Kansas City residents and Chiefs fans Travis Cornolo, who turns 34 on Thursday, and his mother, Sharon Cornolo, 62, however, are going to the game. And the two didn’t even have to buy tickets. That’s because Travis Cornolo got complimentary tickets through his work.
“It’s always been kind of a bucket-list item,” he said. “But obviously with ticket prices being what they are nowadays, it just seemed like it would never happen. And I kind of had this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so.”
If the tickets hadn’t have been free, he wouldn’t be going to the game, Travis Cornolo said.
“No. I wish I had that kind of money,” he said with a laugh.
Both Donnel Woods and Cornolo had predictions for the game. Woods said the 49ers were going to “blow ’em out” and he predicted a score of 49 to 10. Cornolo had the Chiefs winning, and referring to Kansas City’s quarterback Patrick Mahomes, said that “under pressure, Mahomes just always pulls through.”
‘Kind of surreal’
Las Vegas resident Michael Tenby, a Chiefs fan, also was taking in the sights at the Experience.
“It’s kind of surreal,” Tenby said Wednesday. “I was always the one Chiefs fan that my friends knew, the one person who was rooting for them. Now, people are fed up with them. People feel about them the way they felt about the Patriots.
“It’s strange, I’m just not used to it,” Tenby said. “But it’s nice to be in a position where you can be in contention every year. That’s all you can ask for.”
Al Scullin, 77, of Las Vegas, described the atmosphere at Wednesday’s event as “raucous.” He was there with his wife, Lynda. He remembered going to the Super Bowl in 1970, a game that cost him about $40 to attend.
The Scullins said they wouldn’t be attending this Sunday’s Super Bowl. Too expensive, they said, which echoed the sentiment of many fans at Wednesday’s event.
“But no, they just started to get incredibly expensive,” Al Scullin said.
The Super Bowl Experience is open from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. through Friday and from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. on Saturday. Admission on Wednesday was $25 each, but will be $50 on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Kids 12 and under get in for free.
Contact Brett Clarkson at bclarkson@reviewjournal.com.
