CHICAGO — The 2021 Super Bowl has been moved by the NFL from Los Angeles to Tampa.
Five days after the opening of the $2.6 billion football stadium in Inglewood, Calif., was pushed back to 2020 because of construction delays caused by Los Angeles' uncommonly wet winter, league owners approved the move Tuesday. Owners voted unanimously to give the February 2021 game to Tampa and have the Rams' and Chargers' new home host the 2022 Super Bowl.
The NFL would have needed to waive a rule that prohibits a Super Bowl being played at a stadium before it has hosted two full regular seasons. Instead, it chose to move the game to Tampa, runner-up to Los Angeles in the bidding.
"Our focus in this process is this building should host multiple Super Bowls over many generations, and we need to make sure we deliver a building that is an exceptional, Super Bowl-quality building," Rams chief operating officer Kevin Demoff said last week. "Our focus is more on the caliber of building than the exact year of the Super Bowl."