The Chiefs beat the 49ers 25-22 in overtime to win Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday to become the first NFL franchise to clinch back-to-back Lombardi Trophies since the New England Patriots during the 2003 and ’04 seasons. 

Despite the unprecedented success under coach Andy Reid and quarterback Patrick Mahomes—which includes a third Super Bowl victory in 2019, another AFC championship in ’20, and an appearance in the conference title game each of the past six years—the Chiefs were most recently valued at $4.3 billion on Forbes’ preseason list, just 23rd out of the NFL’s clubs. But the Hunt family, which founded the franchise in 1959, now has even more ammo to capitalize on to grow off-field revenues.

Just as Mahomes, with three Super Bowl victories himself, now chases Tom Brady’s seven rings, the Chiefs will look to mimic the growth experienced by Brady’s Patriots, which ascended from 10th in NFL valuation rankings in 2000, before Brady and coach Bill Belichick arrived that same year, all the way up to No. 2 after six Lombardi Trophies, the last of which came in ’18. (New England is currently valued at $7 billion, behind the Cowboys’ $9 billion estimate.)

The win, which ties Kansas City with the with the Packers and the Giants at four Super Bowls apiece, should also give Chiefs chairman and CEO Clark Hunt even more influence among NFL owners—not that he needed it. Hunt is already chairman of the NFL finance committee, which influences who can buy and invest in teams. He is also a member of the league’s international and personal conduct committees, as well as NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s chairmen’s committee.

But for now, Clark, Mahomes, and the entire Chiefs organization have a parade to get ready for.

The debut of Las Vegas as a Super Bowl host city is officially over, after a week unlike any other before it. The NFL fully embraced the home of sports betting, complete with league branding taking over casinos and sportsbooks, as well as some of the hottest bars and nightclubs.

Now, the question is: Will the NFL bring its title game back to Sin City? And if so, when? It could return as soon as 2028 (Super Bowl hosts are set through ’27). The NFL loved Las Vegas as a host city due to its world-class hotels, entertainment, and dining. But there is a powerful business element in the Nevada desert that doesn’t want the Big Game coming back for an encore, sources say. Namely, casino operators who’ve run Vegas behind the scenes since the days of Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack.

For billion-dollar casinos, the Super Bowl attracts mostly the wrong kind of clientele. They want to attract wealthy gambling “whales” from around the world looking to spend millions at the betting table—not Joe and Jane Chiefs fans from Kansas City and San Francisco.

Organizers like the Las Vegas Super Bowl Host Committee will surely argue about the much-heralded economic impact (often hard-to-verify figures in the tens and hundreds of millions of dollars) generated by the Big Game. But casino operators are not impressed by visitors spending money at other local sporting events or souvenir and convenience stores. They want that money spent on slots, blackjack, and craps tables.

Host committees need to raise tens of millions in public and private funding when bidding for the Super Bowl. Word is that Las Vegas organizers already had some issues securing that funding this year, due to the city’s slim corporate base. The next time they ask casinos for money to host another Super Bowl, they might get a firm no, sources tell FOS.

Too Much Fun?

The hype around Super Bowl LVIII showed that if any city can swallow something as big as the Super Bowl, it’s Las Vegas. U2 continued its high-demand residency at the Sphere, and a plethora of other sports tried to capitalize on the influx of people—from hockey to golf to UFC and even slap fighting.  

If you were in the area around Allegiant Stadium, you knew the Super Bowl was in town. But some other parts of the city remained virtually untouched by the NFL. It reminiscent of the first—and only—time the Super Bowl touched down in New York City in 2014. If you weren’t around the NFL activities in Times Square or the league hotel in Midtown, you’d have barely been aware the Big Game was in town. In Vegas, there was not a typical central gathering spot—what the league used to unofficially call Super Bowl Central. There was a sense that those in town were simply going from casino to casino.

Despite the unique challenges and offerings presented by Las Vegas, it’s still hard to see the city not having a chance to get another Super Bowl. It is great advertising for the area and continues to legitimize Vegas as a booming sports town. It’s not unreasonable to think the Super Bowl could return once every eight to 10 years, even becoming part of the NFL’s unofficial rotation of regular stops each February.

With the first Las Vegas Super Bowl now behind us, the Big Easy will get the next crack at hosting the NFL’s biggest affair—for the 11th time. Super Bowl LIX will mark the first time the game is back in New Orleans since the “Blackout Bowl” in 2013, when a portion of the Superdome’s lights went out for more than half an hour. 

Here’s the current status of upcoming Super Bowl hosts:

• 2025: Caesars Superdome, New Orleans
• 2026: Levi’s Stadium, San Francisco (Santa Clara)
• 2027: SoFi Stadium, Los Angeles
• 2028 (and beyond): TBD

Bigger Than Just One Game?

Next year’s game could be a key showcase for New Orleans, which has hosted 10 previous Super Bowls and six Final Fours but is facing an uncertain future around the Sugar Bowl’s long-term place as part of the College Football Playoff. New Orleans will host CFP quarterfinal games in 2024 and ’25, but nothing is guaranteed for ’26 and beyond. 

This past fall, Sugar Bowl Committee CEO Jeff Hundley lamented about the rising costs of being part of the expanding CFP, and organizers launched a website to elicit donations. Perhaps another successful Super Bowl in New Orleans could remind college football stakeholders of the city’s ability to successfully welcome big events.

With the 2023 NFL season officially over, the league’s focus quickly shifts to the offseason, which brings several major questions around media and stadiums.

How much more streaming is on the way?

The 2023 season brought a number of major exclusive streaming firsts: A Black Friday game on Amazon Prime Video, a regular-season and playoff game on Peacock, and the transition of NFL Sunday Ticket from DirecTV to YouTube. Still, there could be even more room for streaming in the NFL’s broadcast schedule, particularly around international games. A broadcast partner has not been announced for the NFL’s debut game in Brazil, featuring the Eagles on Friday night of kickoff weekend, and annual games in Europe could create their own new streaming package. NFL executives have previously told Front Office Sports that NFL+ could be a landing spot for some exclusive game broadcasts. Will 2024 bring even more streaming? That should be answered in May, when the league announces next season’s full schedule, if not sooner.

What teams, if any, will make progress on stadium deals?

The Bears and Commanders are in the process of searching for sites to build new stadiums, while the Jaguars are working on completing a deal that would see the city fund half of their $2 billion project to renovate EverBank Stadium. The more time that passes without a deal for any of the above franchises simply means a longer wait until a new or renovated venue is completed. All three will certainly be using this offseason to solidify their futures.

Will the viewership spike extend into the spring?

Viewership during the NFL’s 2023 regular season (17.9 million viewers per game) was the league’s highest since ’15. That growth continued during the postseason as games during the wild-card, divisional, and conference championship rounds averaged 38.5 million viewers—the most ever for the playoffs. Super Bowl LVIII viewership will be released later this week, and the NFL will look to keep things up over the next few months. The league has yet to turn the four-day NFL Scouting Combine, which begins later this month, into must-see TV on the NFL Network,, but the NFL draft, which takes place in April, has become one of the premier sporting events in the U.S. Last year’s first round telecast drew 11.29 million viewers (up 13% from ’22), boosting the three-day event to an average of six million viewers (up 12% from ’22).