After all the hoopla, parties and preparation, Super Bowl LIX is finally here, New Orleans

Louisiana National Guard Airmen Callihan, center, and Moss, left, watch traffic drive through their checkpoint in the French Quarter on Wednesday, February 5, 2025.

Are you ready for some football?

At approximately 5:30 p.m. Sunday, either a Kansas City Chief or a Philadelphia Eagle will kick off Super Bowl LIX in the Caesars Superdome.

The 11th Super Bowl hosted by New Orleans is finally at hand after years of planning and months of feverishly fixing up the French Quarter and downtown.

New Orleans’ pre-Super Bowl scramble was like a last-minute, city-wide house cleaning before company arrives. The disruption of January’s once-in-a-century snowstorm didn’t help.

As hosts, we can only hope that our guests have so much fun that they don’t notice – or don’t remember – what wasn’t finished.

When it’s go-time for a good time, New Orleans shines, as the past few days of wall-to-wall parties, concerts and special events have demonstrated.

As with Mardi Gras, it’s possible to escape the big event by sticking to certain parts of the city. But downtown, the Super Bowl dominates.

Back in November, Mayor LaToya Cantrell gave homegrown rap star Lil Wayne an honorary key to the city. This week, New Orleans essentially tossed the keys to the NFL and said, “Here you go. The city is yours. Enjoy.”

A Super Bowl inevitably inconveniences locals, with street closures being one of the biggest disruptions.

But the confluence of sports, pop culture, corporate wealth and international media is a unique opportunity and experience for the host city.

With more NFL cities than ever vying for a Super Bowl, the game won’t circle back to New Orleans again for years.

So enjoy the hoopla as best you can.

Celebrities abound

Super Bowl LIX is, after all, that rare event that both President Trump and Taylor Swift will attend.

This is the only week you’ll see Eagles fanatic and Hollywood leading man Bradley Cooper serving Philly cheesesteaks from a food truck in the CBD.

And Lady Gaga and Gayle Benson taping a New Orleans tribute in the middle of the night on Bourbon Street.

And Jelly Roll singing his hit “Need A Favor” at Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop.

And the St. Louis Cathedral, the Cabildo and the Presbytère digitally “painted” with Louisiana artworks in eye-popping laser-light projections.

Not one but two super-yachts are docked along the Mississippi riverfront this week while the Lakefront Airport parked a fleet of private jets.

All that money swirling around didn’t necessarily trickle down. Some bars and restaurants have reported business this week was at, or even below, what is normal this time of year. Some local musicians – more, it seems, than when the Super Bowl was last here in 2013 – say they didn’t score any extra gigs.

But other segments of the local economy clearly cashed in.

It was a good week to own a hotel, a short-term rental or a nice restaurant, or to be in the business of renting out stage, sound and lighting gear.

Beyond the marquee musicians brought in – Chris Stapleton, Post Malone, Megan Thee Stallion, Blink-182, Travis Scott, Jelly Roll, Seal, etc. – some local acts were especially busy.

Cowboy Mouth and Better Than Ezra were hired for multiple corporate events. The Soul Rebels’ half-dozen gigs included the Super Bowl Opening Night at the Dome and the NFL team owners’ party.

And Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews was scheduled to work a total of eight gigs on Friday and Saturday, before joining Lauren Daigle for “America the Beautiful” during the Super Bowl pregame show on Sunday.

That all-Louisiana segment of the Fox telecast also includes Jon Batiste’s interpretation of the national anthem and New Orleans-born contemporary R&B vocalist Ledisi animating “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”

Locked down and locked in

Super Bowl security is always tight. It was beefed up even more following the deadly terrorist attack on Bourbon Street early on Jan. 1.

All week, Canal, Bourbon and adjacent streets have blinked blue, occupied by a who’s who of police departments and military units. New Orleans hasn’t seen so many troops with so much firepower on the street since the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina 20 years ago.

To some, the massive show of force may be off-putting. But New Orleans may well have had the safest downtown anywhere in the world this week.

With a sitting president attending a Super Bowl for the first time on Sunday, Superdome security will be even more enhanced.

And if the Dome’s power supply doesn’t flicker like it did during the 2013 Super Bowl, everyone should be able to relax and enjoy the game.

Yes, a football game must still be played.

On Monday, players from both teams wore matching cream-colored sweatsuits and spotless white sneakers as they mingled among thousands of media members on the Superdome sidelines during Opening Night. They joked around, answered silly questions, and signed shirts and footballs tossed down from the stands by fans.

Players partook of New Orleans nightlife and cuisine. Several Chiefs teammates ate steak at Doris Metropolitan in the French Quarter. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce dined with their significant others – that would be, respectively, Brittany Mahomes and Taylor Swift – at Lilette on Magazine Street.

The players must set aside all the silliness and socializing come Sunday. It’s game day. Time to lock in.

Will Mahomes and company claim the first-ever Super Bowl three-peat and cement their dynasty status?

Will Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, possibly the next Saints head coach, exit Philadelphia with a win?

Will Kendrick Lamar spotlight “Not Like Us,” his omnipresent, Grammy-winning “diss” track takedown of rival Drake, in his halftime show?

The answers will be revealed Sunday in the Superdome.

We’re ready for some football.