NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs have landed in New Orleans for Super Bowl week.
They exited their planes to sunshine and temperatures in the 60s on Sunday afternoon, a week before their matchup on Feb. 9.
Players and staff made their way down moveable staircases from their planes to buses awaiting them on the tarmac without much fanfare. Then they quickly rolled off in convoys bound for for their downtown hotels. Most Eagles players and staff wore black sweatsuits with a “Super Bowl LIX” logo across the chest. Chiefs coach Andy Reid wore a blue suit with a red tie.
One of the pilots on the Eagles’ plane hung a green-and-white flag out of the window reading, “Geaux Birds,” a play on the pronunciation of French words — as well as many last names in Louisiana — that end with the letters “eaux.”
Super Bowl week comes a month after a terrorist attack on Bourbon Street in the city’s famed French Quarter in the early-morning hours of Jan. 1, during which a man drove a truck over the sidewalk and into pedestrians, killing 14 people before he was killed in a shootout with police.
Security was tight at the airport for the Super Bowl arrivals. Media members were kept behind barricades about 50 yards away from where the teams made their way from their planes to buses, and there were no interviews.
The Eagles (17-3) advanced to the Super Bowl by beating the Washington Commanders 55-23 in the NFC championship game.
The Chiefs (17-2), who are seeking to become the first team to win three straight Super Bowls, took the AFC crown with a 32-29 victory over the Buffalo Bills.
The arrivals kicked off a week of activities leading up to the first Super Bowl in New Orleans since 2013.
“This is the first day of the culmination of eight years of planning,” said Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation and New Orleans Super Bowl Host Committee president Jay Cicero, alluding to the time since the city won its bid for this season’s title game.
“It’s a little surreal that the teams are arriving,” he said. “We’re excited that this is happening. It’s time to get going.”
Cicero, who was at the airport for the arrivals, noted that a University of New Orleans study concluded that the 2013 Super Bowl resulted in about $480 million in spending in the metropolitan area.
“It’s certainly going to be higher than that 12 years later,” he said.
Cicero said more than 6,000 media credentials have been issued for the Super Bowl, up from around 5,200 in 2013 and double the number issued for the 1997 Super Bowl in New Orleans.
