Super Bowl 2023 venue: State Farm Stadium roof to be open if weather allows

Publish date: 2024-05-05

Editor’s Note: We’ve updated a previous version of this story to reflect that this year’s Super Bowl could be played with the roof open. The previous version indicated that the retractable roof would be closed for the game. 

This year’s Super Bowl between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs will be played with an open roof at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., if the weather allows it, according to an NFL spokesperson. The weather for Super Bowl Sunday calls for the temperature to be in the 60s for kickoff with less than a 10 percent chance of rain.

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State Farm Stadium features a retractable roof, and the Super Bowl held in 2008 had a closed roof due to rain in the area. The Super Bowl between the Seahawks and Patriots in 2015 had an open roof because temperatures were in the mid-60s, and there was no chance of rain.

Super Bowls in stadiums with retractable roofs have become more common in recent years, with more new stadiums being built. This will be the seventh Super Bowl played in a stadium with a retractable roof and that Patriots-Seahawks Super Bowl is the only to play with the roof open. When Houston’s Reliant Stadium hosted Super Bowl XXXVIII, the game was played with the roof closed, but the pregame and halftime shows had the roof open.

If the game is played with the roof closed, it’ll be the 20th indoor Super Bowl. The first indoor Super Bowl was Super Bowl XII in 1978. The Cowboys beat the Broncos 27-10 at the Louisiana Superdome. Now called Caesars Superdome, it has hosted the most Super Bowls of any venue at seven. It will host the Super Bowl for the eighth time in 2025.

Regarding the teams playing in this game, both the Eagles and Chiefs have outdoor stadiums, but the Eagles have more indoor Super Bowl history. The Eagles have played in two indoor Super Bowls. They lost to the Oakland Raiders 27-10 in Super Bowl XV in the Louisiana Superdome and more recently beat the New England Patriots 41-33 in Super Bowl LII at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

Meanwhile, the Chiefs, making a third Super Bowl appearance in the last four years, have never played an indoor Super Bowl or in a Super Bowl with a retractable roof. The Chiefs last played an indoor playoff game in the Wild Card round in 2015 at Houston. That win snapped an eight-game postseason losing streak and was the franchise’s first playoff victory in 12 years.

The total for this game is 49.5 points, which is just above the average for point totals in indoor Super Bowls (49.1). Indoor Super Bowls tend to a bit higher scoring than outdoor ones, with outdoor Super Bowls averaging 44.6 points. However, the first 11 Super Bowls were outdoors, and many early Super Bowls were low scoring. Using Super Bowl XII, the first indoor Super Bowl, as a starting point, outdoor games have averaged 49.7 points per game since then, which is more than indoor games.

Odds update live and are from BetMGM.

The small sample size and different eras render these stats largely meaningless, but it may fight against the theory that indoor venues are ripe for many points. Outdoor Super Bowls are held in warm weather cities so conditions are typically perfect, or close to it, either way.

(Photo of State Farm Stadium: Christian Petersen / Getty Images)

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