It’s Game Time!
One of the most anticipated sports events is The Super Bowl. Ever since the year 1967, this has been a yearly game event of the National Football League. Prior to that it was called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game. At present, the Super Bowl takes place on the second Sunday in February. The Cincinnati Bengals (13W – 7L) and Los Angeles Rams (15W – 5L) are facing off against each other in Super Bowl LVI.
What’s with the Roman Numerals?
Super Bowl LVI is of course Super Bowl 56. Aside from a random historic building cornerstone, copyright dates, or a fancy clock, we don’t see many roman numerals in everyday life. As a base ten number system with only seven basic symbols, it is fairly easy to use. Roman numbers may make a film, book, or clock look a bit classier because of the historical association.
According to nbcsports.com, AFL and Chiefs founder Lamar Hunt proposed using Roman numerals for each Super Bowl to “add pomp and gravitas to the game”.
The Roman numerals were adopted to clarify any confusion that may occur because the NFL Championship Game—the Super Bowl—is played in the year following a chronologically recorded season. Super Bowl V was the first to use Roman numerals. Numerals I through IV were retroactively added for the first four Super Bowls.
Thank third grade teachers everywhere for the important lessons in roman numerals.
Where Will the Super Bowl LVI Take Place?
The 2022 Super Bowl will take place at the impressive SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California just outside of Los Angeles. SoFi Stadium opened in September 2020.
For Super Bowl LVI, SoFi Stadium’s capacity will increase from 70,000 to 100,000 people. According to its website, SoFi Stadium is 3.1 million square feet. It is located on 298 acres, and its campus is 3.5 times bigger than Disneyland.
Not only the home of the Rams and Chargers, the stadium will also host the Olympic Games in the summer of 2028.
SoFi Stadium and Environmental Impact
One of the highlights of the modern stadium is its beautiful man-made lake. The lake captures and reuses recycled water. It was designed with sustainability in mind when landscaping around the building and Hollywood Park. Kush Parekh, landscape architect, designed artificial lake to hold 100% recycled water, using it to water greenery around the stadium in Inglewood. The design also utilizes natural wetlands and mechanical systems to filter runoff. Experts say water recycling is essential to lowering demand at a time when the Southwest is growing and steadily getting hotter and drier.
According to SoFi Stadium’s website the building also boasts energy efficient lighting fixtures and controls; heating and cooling systems; variable speed fans and escalators; air distribution systems.
Rams owner Stan Kroenke spared no expense, spending six years and at least $5 billion on the project making it the biggest football stadium ever created and the most expensive in the U.S., if not the world, according to si.com.
One of the more impressive features is the way the roof structure at SoFi operates. The roof is made up of multiple operable panels. They can open or close to allow free airflow and allow hot air to escape but can be closed to protect the field and fans from rain (does it ever rain in sunny Southern California?) or colder temperatures.
The structures are covered entirely by a crystal ETFE roof, a breakthrough design that provides UV protection, and projects images visible to airplanes on the final approach to LAX with 28,000 LED lights embedded in the roof.
The stadium also includes the flat screen of your dreams. The Oculus is an ovular, double-sided 4K HDR video board. This cutting-edge, 80-million-pixel board is a breakthrough in sports entertainment, suspended from the roof at a jaw-dropping 2.2 million pounds. The stadium’s 260-speaker audio system and 56 5G wireless antennas is the most connected location in California and will certainly make you question the quality of your internet and surround sound at home.
How Much Electricity does one Super Bowl event consume?
According to experts in the energy field, lighting up an area as big as the SoFi Stadium takes up to 10 megawatts. One megawatt is equivalent to 1,000,000 watts. The Super Bowl game takes about 5 hours or more, which means that 50 megawatt hours would be consumed.
At the height of the NFL’s energy use, the league stepped in to start implementing new green initiative that would help lower the league’s overall electricity consumption and the carbon footprint of these massive professional stadiums. Many of the league’s biggest stadiums have taken the challenge seriously and started implementing new strategies to reduce their overall energy use.
The Cost of the Half Time Show
Last year, in Super Bowl LV, more than $7 Million was spent for the halftime show staring The Weeknd. Aside from the commercials, and of course the football, half time shows are also one of the most awaited parts of the event. This is because it features performances from bands, artists, as well as other grand preparations that surely give an impression of an all-out concert.
For a 12-15 segment in a national event, organizers of the Super Bowl spend more than $10 Million. Breakdowns of expenditures involve paying for the extravagant stage setup, fireworks, lighting, as well as other necessities of the event.
This year’s half time show will feature Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, and Kendrick Lamar.
How many people watch the Super Bowl?
An estimated number of 30 million households watching the Super Bowl worldwide. This includes watching the game through television, cellphones, and other devices that have access to the internet and live streaming of the Super Bowl.
This means televisions and devices consume about 38.5 million kilowatt hours of power. Moreover, there is an additional 37.5 million kilowatt hours for lighting. This brings the total energy and electricity consumed to watch the Super Bowl to 76 GWh.
As for the cost of consuming this much energy, the average kilowatt hour price across the United States is about $0.12, which would result in a total combined bill of about $10,000,000 when it comes to just household energy consumption alone.
Super Bowl of the Future
While the Super Bowl consumes an overwhelming amount of energy and electricity, there are modern ways and solutions implemented at present to reduce that amount. This includes using LED lights, utilizing solar energy, as well as limiting the number of watts spent per day. There are various ways that consumption of energy and electricity can be decreased without sacrificing the enjoyment of watching the big game, and it’s encouraging that more and more companies increasingly embrace several cost efficient and energy efficient solutions.
The new SoFi stadium is an amazing example of what the future holds for entertainment and multipurpose buildings. Predictably, it will be the most advanced sports venue for the next decade. As such, it will serve as a source inspiration for the future of breakthrough, innovation, and transformation in the energy industry.
Have a thrilling Super Bowl this weekend! Who Dey?
