The Vikings, of course, could become the first team to play a Super Bowl in their home stadium. But just because it has never happened doesn’t mean the NFL has not considered the possibility until now.
“It is something we plan for well in advance each year,” said NFL spokesman Michael Signora, who currently is in Minneapolis working on Super Bowl preparations.
The plan since the beginning has had the AFC practicing at the Vikings’ Winter Park facility, with the NFC team at the University of Minnesota with the exception of a scenario in which the Vikings were in the game. In that scenario, the Vikings would remain in their home facility with the AFC team practicing at the University of Minnesota. All 12 playoff teams were given the plan in their NFL Playoffs Guide before the start of the postseason.
The NFC team always was designated to use the Vikings’ locker room and the Vikings’ sideline.
The Vikings, though, will see some differences in their stadium, if they get there.
The AFC team, as the designated home team, will get the benefit of selecting its jersey color and has first choice of media availability session times during the week. The NFC team, as the visitor, will call the coin toss.
The Super Bowl field will have one end zone painted for each team and the NFL and Super Bowl markings on other parts of the field. The NFL will control the game presentation and entertainment in the stadium and on the video boards.
The number of tickets provided to the two participating teams will remain equal should the Vikings play in the game. Each team will receive the traditional participating team allocation, and then the host club allocation will be split between the two participating teams. That is based on a 1998 league resolution.
In other words, the Patriots or Jaguars will get more tickets for their fans if the Vikings are the opponent.