It’s official! 49ers to host Super Bowl 60 at Levi’s Stadium
NFL owners approved the plan for Levi's Stadium to host the Super Bowl following the 2025 season.
SANTA CLARA – Levi’s Stadium will host a second Super Bowl, officially putting the entire Bay Area back on American sports’ most watched stage.
NFL owners gave their approval Monday to schedule Super Bowl LX for the 49ers’ home field on Feb. 8, 2026.
League commissioner Roger Goodell recalled the Bay Area as an “incredible host” when Super Bowl 50 was held a decade ago. The only previous Super Bowl here came in 1985, when Stanford Stadium hosted Joe Montana and the 49ers’ second title in four years.
“We look forward to working with the 49ers and the Bay Area Host Committee to create an impactful Super Bowl LX in 2026 that showcases all the great things the region has to offer,” Goodell said in a statement.
Left unsaid, for now, is precisely where other Super Bowl week activities will be held.
San Francisco figures to repeat as a “Super Bowl City” hub for fans, just as it was in 2016, although teams stayed and practiced in the South Bay. Back then, the Super Bowl Opening Night media festivities were held at downtown San Jose’s SAP Center; San Francisco’s Chase Center could be more appealing this time for that increasingly fan-friendly event, along with the annual NFL Honors show on Super Bowl eve.
Super Bowl LX will precede Levi’s Stadium also serving among 16 venues in North America for the men’s soccer World Cup in the summer of 2026.
“2026 will be a blockbuster year for the Bay Area on the world stage as it hosts both the Super Bowl and World Cup – and it’s fitting timing as San Francisco celebrates its 250th birthday,” Zaileen Janmohamed, president and CEO of the Bay Area Host Committee, said in a statement. “We are thrilled to bring another large-scale event to the area, and to showcase the Bay Area’s unique spirit and diversity.”
Whether or not the Bay Area is entering the fabled “Super Bowl rotation” of host cities – typically the warmer-weather spots in South Florida, New Orleans, Southern California – Levi’s Stadium indeed was imagined as a multiple-Super Bowl venue.
The 49ers helped speak that into existence back at the April 2012 groundbreaking ceremony.
“It’s going to be an unbelievable venue, not just for 49ers games but everything, from Super Bowls to soccer matches to concerts and college football,” 49ers CEO Jed York said at Levi’s groundbreaking.
Former 49ers coach George Seifert, at that same ceremony, noted how bringing the Super Bowl back here affords people “access to the immediate area, Carmel, Monterey, the City, wine country and everything beside the game itself.”
WHAT HAS CHANGED SINCE LAST TIME
Unlike in February 2016, there’s no longer a golf course or gravel parking lot across the street (Tasman Drive) from Levi’s Stadium.
Instead, a mega-development is in its initial phase of construction. The 240-acre project called “Related Santa Clara” will cluster residential (1,680 units), commercial (5.7 million square feet) and retail (500,000 square feet) with hotels, restaurants and a park. Meanwhile, a high-rise housing complex is already being built, and it towers kitty-corner from Levi’s Stadium.
As for Levi’s Stadium itself, upgrades are planned, but one noticeable improvement literally took root years ago. The grass field is now considered among the NFL’s best surfaces, as testified last year by then-49ers kicker Robbie Gould. In Super Bowl 50, however, several Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers players slipped on the sod, until Peyton Manning and Denver prevailed 24-10.
The 49ers and Levi’s Stadium now have 2 ½ years to spruce up before hosting again.
A multi-million dollar upgrade in suites, seats and scoreboards is expected to begin after this coming season, which marks the 49ers’ ninth since moving in from now-razed Candlestick Park.
“We are honored to host the Super Bowl at Levi’s Stadium once again, and to be stewards of one of the biggest sporting events in the world,” 49ers president Al Guido said in a statement. “Since hosting Super Bowl 50 in 2016, Levi’s Stadium has cemented its reputation as a world-class venue. I’m confident Super Bowl LX will be a terrific event that benefits the entire community.”
HOST CITY HISTORY
Two Super Bowls in an 11-year span? Not bad, considering the only other time the Bay Area hosted the Super Bowl was in January 1985 at Stanford Stadium, where Joe Montana and the 49ers won their second Lombardi Trophy by defeating the Miami Dolphins.
“We know what hosting the Super Bowl can do for our region and the City, and we’re excited to have the opportunity to welcome Super Bowl LX to the Bay,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed tweeted.
“Thrilled that @LevisStadium is primed to host the Super Bowl LX. This is an incredible opportunity for our city. Good luck @49ers
— San Jose would be honored to have you!” San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan tweeted.
Thrilled that @LevisStadium is primed to host the Super Bowl LX. This is an incredible opportunity for our city. Good luck @49ers — San Jose would be honored to have you! https://t.co/wiHRrltXED
— Mayor Matt Mahan (@MattMahanSJ) May 19, 2023
Lisa Gillmor, Santa Clara’s mayor, did not immediately issue a comment via Twitter; she’s had a contentious relationship for years with the 49ers and their operating of Levi’s Stadium.
Next season’s Super Bowl will be the first at the Las Vegas Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium, and the 2024 season will end at the event’s most frequented venue, New Orleans’ Superdome, which will host for an eighth time.
Building a new stadium typically sets up a city to host a Super Bowl, for those that can’t offer tropical climates in the winter such as Miami, host city of 11 Super Bowls.
But getting the Super Bowl to return is no guarantee. Among the cities that have hosted once in the past 20 years: Jacksonville (2005), Arlington, Texas (2011), East Rutherford, New Jersey (2014), Minneapolis (2018), Atlanta (2019) and Inglewood (2022), though the Rams’ and Chargers’ Southern California home is reportedly seeking the 2027 Super Bowl.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
How much money will be infused into the Bay Area is up for interpretation.
A study of Super Bowl 50 from a research firm, Sportsimpacts, had a “net positive impact” of over $240 million for the Bay Area, according to that Super Bowl’s host committee. More than half of those revenues benefitted San Francisco (57%), and the next most went to San Jose (12.3%) and Santa Clara (7.2%).
San Francisco’s Moscone Center hosted the NFL Experience and was the hub for most visitors. A report from the city controller stated that San Francisco made $2 million off Super Bowl activities, with $11.6 million in revenues and $9.6 million in expenses.
The Super Bowl host committee estimated that 1.1 million fans (visitors and residents) attended San Francisco’s activities, adding that $13 million was raised for Bay Area youth organizations.
The Super Bowl also affords regions immense exposure through the television broadcast, and this past Super Bowl was the most-watched telecast in history, with 115.1 million watching the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Philadelphia Eagles in Glendale, Arizona. That was the same stadium that hosted the 2015 Super Bowl, a year ahead of Santa Clara’s first time hosting.
Deposits are being accepted for Super Bowl seating and hotel options through NFL partner “On Location” hospitality services.