By Rory Carroll and Amy Tennery
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – Spirits were high and security tight as fans flocked to the Superdome in New Orleans on Sunday for a Super Bowl matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles, where U.S. President Donald Trump was expected to be in attendance.
Fans decked out in Eagles green and Chiefs crimson marched down Poydras Street under pristine, sunny skies hours before kickoff, with dueling chants of “Go, birds!” and “Red Kingdom” ringing down the street.
Police officers and Homeland Security officers shut down several blocks of the key thoroughfare to traffic, with the NFL title game kicking off just weeks after a deadly New Year’s Day attack in the popular French Quarter neighborhood.
Secret Service searched members of the media and credentialed staff as they entered the stadium, with Trump expected to become the first sitting president to attend the Super Bowl.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the favored Chiefs are looking to become the first team in league history to win three consecutive Super Bowls while the Eagles hope to exact revenge for their loss to the team in the Big Game two years ago.
Three-time Super Bowl champion Mahomes looked confident as he strolled into the facility in an Eagles-green suit, tie, and sunglasses.
His Eagles counterpart Jalen Hurts entered in an all-purple ensemble as the theme song to the iconic Philadelphia underdog movie “Rocky” blared over the stadium speakers.
Pop superstar Taylor Swift is also expected to be on hand to support her boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, just as she was last year when Kansas City triumphed over the 49ers in Las Vegas.
“Go Taylor’s boyfriend,” was written on banners and t-shirts of the fans she has helped bring into the league.
New Orleans was hosting the game for a record-tying 11th time as fans shelled out to attend, with the average price of tickets sold hovering around $6,500 on resale platform StubHub.
For Chiefs fans, the chance to witness the possibility of history being written was too enticing to pass up.
“We’re incredibly excited, coming here hopefully to watch them get the three-peat today. We’ll see. We’re pretty excited. Anxious but excited,” said Clint Benge, 37, an orthopedic surgeon living in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, attending with his wife, fellow orthopedic surgeon Liz Helsper-Benge, 35.
Jeff Yoder, 44, an Eagles fan and construction company manager from West Chester, Pennsylvania, stopped by the entrance to take a selfie and soak in the experience.
He got tickets for him and his father, who had chemotherapy last year for lymphoma.
“I’ve been going to Eagles games my entire life with my father. He’s been taking me since I was a baby. And I’ve been taking him these last few years, and we went to the last three games together, the last playoff games and we couldn’t stop. We had to go to this game,” Yoder said.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax, Nathan Frandino, Maria Cardona, Cath Turner and Ossian Shine; Editing by Toby Davis)
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