TAMPA, Fla. (NewsNation Now) — The Kansas City Chiefs arrived in Tampa, Florida on Saturday, flying into town a day before they defend the title against the hometown Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV.
“Saturday night is just looking for ways to sleep, honestly, because there’s a lot of excitement, a lot of energy that you build up to throughout the weekend,” Chiefs defensive end Tanoh Kpassagnon said earlier in the week. “The key is just letting it out on the road at the right time on Sunday.”
The NFC champion Buccaneers are the first team to host and play in the Super Bowl in NFL history. Fans are especially ready and excited for the historic matchup.
“You can’t get any better than actually having the Super Bowl in the same city with the goat in the same city as the Super Bowl, said Bucks fan Carols Cains. “It doesn’t get any better than this baby.”
“You have two good quarterbacks out here, Tom Brady and Patrick Mahoes. But I think Brady is going to win it out because of how much knowledge he has. I’m excited for that, said fan Jeffery Jones.
Bucs fans are clearly the majority in Tampa, but the Chiefs are also well represented.
“We flew in from Kansas City this morning, so we just go here. It looks like this is going to be a home game for the Bucs, but it seems good. I see a lot of Kansas City fans,” one fan told NewsNation.
The day before the big game, most of the action is happening at the Super Bowl Experience, the NFL’s temporary “amusement park,” in Downtown Tampa. Fans have lined up all week to buy merchandise, take photos with NFL sand castles and view the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
Fans have also been pouring in along Tampa’s Riverwalk in luxury at what is called ‘Yacht Village.’
“We have got yachts from 50 ft. to 185 ft. that have pulled up basically for a front-row experience for Super Bowl LV weekend; it’s pretty extraordinary,” said host committee Claire Lessinger.
Despite all of the excitement, the AFC champion Chiefs are missing a member of their team.
Assistant coach Britt Reid, the son of head coach Andy Reid, was not among those traveling with the team after he was involved in a multi-vehicle crash late Thursday that injured two young children near the Chiefs’ training complex adjacent to Arrowhead Stadium.
The team had no further comment Saturday after releasing a statement Friday night saying it was in the information-gathering process.