We are just hours away from Super Bowl LVI, as the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams will face off in the game of the year today. While this Super Bowl is historic for different reasons such as it being the first Super Bowl in NFL history that does not feature any of the top three seeds in either conference, it could break a record that has stood for more than four decades as the hottest Super Bowl ever played.
According to Fox 11 Los Angeles, rising temperatures in California can be attributed to a high-pressure dome that is sitting over the west. Temperature highs are continuing to rise through the end of the week, even causing the National Weather Service to issue an Excessive Heat Watch for areas in Southern California.
Kickoff on the west coast comes at 3:30 p.m. Sunday (6:30 p.m. ET), so the sun will indeed still be shining. Per Local 12 in Cincinnati, temperatures are expected to reach 84 degrees around kickoff, which would tie the record for warmest Super Bowl. The last 84-degree Super Bowl took place in 1973, and also was held in Los Angeles. The second-hottest Super Bowl was 2003 in San Diego (81 degrees), and the third-hottest championship took place in Pasadena in 2016 (76 degrees). At the very least, it appears Super Bowl LVI will be one of the three warmest Super Bowls in NFL history.
If the temperature in Inglewood doesn’t reach that 84-degree mark, it still could do so inside SoFi Stadium. The state-of-the-art facility is an interesting one, as it has a roof but is not “indoors.” If you recall, football fans had to sit through a lightning delay in October when the Los Angeles Chargers hosted the Las Vegas Raiders. That’s because while SoFi has a roof, the sides are open. SoFi Stadium is “climate-controlled” but does not have air conditioning or a heater, per Local 12, so temps inside could be higher than the readings of the thermometer outside.
The roof of the stadium is built to regulate temperature inside, and the sides of the stadium allow for a breeze to flow through. But, it will be hot on Sunday.
