On February 12, 2023, the Kansas City Chiefs face the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII, the championship game of the National Football League. Kickoff will take place in State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, a city located about 14 kilometers (9 miles) northwest of downtown Phoenix.
The stadium is centered in this image, acquired on February 6, 2023, with the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8. Several city blocks around the stadium are within the city’s sports and entertainment district, bordered to the west by State Route 101.
The profile below the image shows the relative elevation of the stadium. It was acquired on April 29, 2020, during an overpass by NASA’s Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2). Data for the elevation profile are from the satellite’s Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS). The stadium stands over 200 feet (60 meters) tall and can hold more than 63,000 people.
The profile coincidently resembles the shape of a football. Despite its sloped shape, the roof is retractable; two translucent panels move along a steel rail at an incline, allowing the roof to open or close within about 10 minutes. Although not visible in these images, the stadium also has a retractable field that can be rolled outside on a tray, allowing the stadium to be used for events other than football.
According to news reports, there was a possibility that the roof would remain closed at game time on February 12 given a small chance of rain showers in the forecast. Daytime high temperatures were expected to be about 70 degrees Fahrenheit on February 12, which is about average for this part of the Sonoran Desert in mid-February.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens, using ICESat-2 data from the National Snow & Ice Center and Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Story by Kathryn Hansen.
