The Super Bowl is usually held in a predesignated city and is often not played in a competing team’s home field. For Super Bowl LX, it will be held at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, home of the San Francisco 49ers. With the Niners already eliminated, this means that the game will be serving as neutral territory for both teams, but one team still has to be designated as the home team, and the other the away team.
So, which team should be serving as the home team and will be sporting their home colors during the Super Bowl? The NFL actually has a system in place to decide that. During even-numbered years, it will be the AFC team that will be the home team, and during odd-numbered years, the home team will be the NFC team.
This year, 2026, is an even-numbered year, which means that the home team will be the AFC’s New England Patriots, even if the Seattle Seahawks are much nearer in location than their opponents. This system has been in place since 1967, and the NFL has not really changed from this format for decades now.
With the game being held at Levi’s Stadium, it might as well be a road game for the Seahawks, as they were the ones that eliminated the hometown 49ers in the Divisional Round, which means locals watching the game live might root for the Patriots.
NFL Super Bowl 2026: Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots Still Get Perks as Road or Home Teams
Why is the team getting designated as the home team or road team important? This is because of the perks usually given to either team.
As the home team, the New England Patriots get the home team’s locker room, which usually belongs to the San Francisco 49ers. In addition, they are the team that gets to pick which colors to wear for the Super Bowl first, and for this year, they chose to go all white. Meanwhile, the road team, the Seattle Seahawks, chose to go with their navy blue uniforms.
For the road team, the Seattle Seahawks’ perk they get to call the coin toss before the game. This means that they have an advantage in calling on who receives the kickoff to start the game.
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