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Eagles benefit from Super Bowl LIX hosting decision

The Kansas City Chiefs are the favorites but the Philadelphia Eagles will be on familiar grounds next Sunday.

Why is the Super Bowl on hybrid surface?
MITCHELL LEFFAFP

There’s less than a week to go until Super Bowl LIX, just a few days left for the the Chiefs and the Eagles to prepare for the NFL’s Championship Game.

But it’s not only the players, coaches and supporters of the two teams that have to get themselves ready, it takes a massive city-wide effort to prepare for Super Bowl. This year’s game will be hosted at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, the 11th time that the city has held the game.

The Philadelphia Eagles played at the Superdome during the regular season and managed a 15-12 victory over the New Orleans Saints. That will give them some confidence going into Sunday’s game and they have an impressive record on artificial surfaces this season.

The Eagles play on a hybrid surface at Lincoln Financial Field and they appear to benefit from the familiarity. Across 16 games the Eagles have a 15-1 record on synthetic or hybrid surfaces this year. However they have struggled on grass, going 2-2 on traditional fields.

The Chiefs have been in incredible form this season and have only lost two games. One of those was the Week 18 loss at Denver in which all their starters were rested. The other was a loss to the Buffalo Bills on a synthetic turf field.

The Eagles are undoubtedly more accustomed to playing on artificial surfaces and their record is considerably worse on natural fields. It’s unlikely to be the decisive factor but Philadelphia fans can take some heart from the knowledge that their team will be on familiar footing for Super Bowl LIX.

The surface was a matter of contention when the Chiefs and the Eagles met in Super Bowl LVII two years ago. State Farm Stadium in Arizona was criticised as “terrible” by players after the game, with both teams struggling to keep their footing on the roll-in Bermuda grass surface.

“The footing? It was terrible,” Eagles offensive lineman Jordan Mailata said. “But the Kansas City Chiefs had to play on it, too. To be fair, they kind of said it was terrible, too, during the TV timeout. So, I’m glad we were on the same page.

It was just slick. You couldn’t anchor. You had to get your whole foot in the ground. If you try and use just your toe, you’d slip right away. You saw the receivers -- it was like a water park out there.

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