미국인들은 수퍼볼에 빠져 있지만, Super Bowl stadium은 3/4이 지하에 건설됐다는점이 더 관심을 끌게한다.

오늘은 일요일, 지금 미국의 LA에서는 Super Bowl열풍에 다른 업무는 거의 마비되다시피, 열광에 빠져들고 있다.  이번 Super Bowl 경기가 더 인기를 끄는 이유는 바로 이경기가 진행돼고 있는 경기장의 특이함이 한몫하고 있다는 점을 기억해야 한다.

SoFi Stadium은 NFL의 번쩍 번쩍 빛나는 일종의 성전으로 각광을 받고 있으며 이경기장 때문에 위대한 LA메가 도시를 지난 30년 동안에 처음으로 Super Bowl열풍이 일어나도록 수퍼볼 팬들을 유혹하고 있다. 

경기장의 넓이는 3.1백만 스퀘어 피드로 NFL역사상 가장큰 경기장이기도 하지만, 또하나의 특징은 이경기장은 "지하 지상"에 건축된 특이한 경기장이다.  옆에는 6에이커 크기의 호수가 있고,  경기장 전체을 덮고있는 커다란 비데오 장치가 건설되여 있고,  경기장 좌석을 덮고있는 카누피에는 메세지와 비데오들이 번쩍 거리는데 이광경이 경기장 위를 지난가는 비행기에서도 볼수 있다는 점이다.

LVI 수퍼볼경기는  LA Rams가 Cincinnati Bangals 누르고 우승팀이 됐다. 전미국이 열광이다.

 SoFi Stadium의 메니저의 자랑은 한두가지가 아니다. "흥분의 도가니로 몰아넣은 경기장의 규모와 특히함에 사람들은 '와아아' 연발이다"라고 설명이다. "빌딩자체가 구조물이고... 건축학적인면에서 믿어지지 않을 기적같은 구조이다. 지붕의 곡선과 그 크기는 믿어지지 않을 정도로 오직 이경기장에서 볼수있는 특수구조로 매우 흥미로운 형상이다. 방문객들은 그 오묘함에 푹 빠져들것입니다"라고. 

LA,Inglewood에 있는  Hollywood Park Racetrack자리에 건축된 이경기장은 50억 달러의 건축비가 들어갔으며 2020년에 완공했고,  LARams와  LA Chargers가 공동으로 홈구장으로 사용하고있다. 최대 100,000명까지 수용할수 있으며, 앞서 언급했듯이  Rams가 홈구장에서  를 Cincinnati Bengals.상대로 싸워 우승팀이 된 것이다.  이경기 우승으로  LA는 하루종일 광란의 도시로 변할 것이다.등

우리한국의 BTS, Justin Bieber, Rolling Stones등 유명 연예인들이 공연을 하기도 했었다.  SoFi경기장은 개장이후 신속히 큰행사를 치르는 성지로 그입지를 굳혀가고 있다.

미국 대학 축구 결승전이 내년에 여기서 열리고, 2028년 하계 올림픽의 개회식, 폐회식이 이곳에서 열리게 된다.  Los Angeles를 방문할 기회가 있다면, 꼭 들려서 이경기장만이 갖고 있는 특징을 한번 살펴 보기를 권한다.

1:경기장의 3/4은 지하에 묻혀 있는 형상이다.

2: 지붕은 LED 스크린으로 장식되여 있어, 모든 퍼포먼스를 생중계로 이지역을 지나가는 여객기에 전송하는 기능을 갖고 있다.  전체 지붕은 반도체 판넬로 덮혀있어, 낯 햇볕이 작렬할때는 반사되는 햇볕을 줄일뿐만 아니라 빌딩자체를 서늘하게 해주는 기능도 발휘한다. 밤에는 커다란 스크린으로 변해 지붕전체가 하나의 비디오 역활을 한다.  2020년 이곳에서 개최됐던  Rams와  Tampa Bay Buccaneers 간의 내셔날 풋볼경기 실황이 중계되여  LAX공항근처를 비행하던 승객들이 실황중계를 즐겼었던 기억도 있다.

3. SoCal의 미풍을 즐길수있는 살리기위해 경기장의 한쪽을 개방형으로 만든 것이다.

4. 경기장 천장에 매달려있는 비디오 스크린은 축구경기장 보다 더 큰 규모다. 

    더자랑스러운것은 우리나라의 자존심이기도한 '삼성전자'의 작품이라는 것이다.  그래서 이비디오의 공식 명칭도 'Infinity Screen by Samsung'으로 불려지고 있다.

5. It has field-level suites just beyond the end zone

The San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams played in the NFC Championship Game at SoFi Stadium on January 30.

The NFL's newest glittering shrine, SoFi Stadium has lured the Super Bowl back to greater Los Angeles for the first time in almost 30 years. And like the breathlessly hyped Super Bowl itself, it's full of superlatives.

At 3.1 million square feet, it's the largest and the first "indoor-outdoor" stadium in the NFL. It's got an adjacent six-acre lake, an enormous video board hovering over the field like a giant halo and a striking, curved canopy that flashes messages and videos to airplanes overhead.

"There's always a tremendous sense of excitement and awe" when visitors see the stadium for the first time, says Jason Gannon, SoFi Stadium's managing director. "The building itself -- the structure of the building -- architecturally is incredible. The curvature of the roof, the size of it, is incredibly unique and interesting. People will find it to be quite an experience."

Built in Inglewood on the site of the former Hollywood Park Racetrack, the $5 billion stadium opened in 2020 as home to both the Los Angeles Rams and the Los Angeles Chargers. It can seat up to 100,000 people. The Rams are playing in the Super Bowl, on their home field, against the Cincinnati Bengals.

SoFi has quickly become a preferred showcase for large-scale events.

Justin Bieber, BTS and the Rolling Stones have performed there. It's also is slated to host next year's College Football National Championship and the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2028 Summer Olympics.

If you're planning a trip to Los Angeles, it may be worth a visit. Here are six of the stadium's unique features.

1. Three-quarters of it lies underground

Morry Gash/AP

The stadium sits just three miles east of Los Angeles International Airport -- and in LAX's flight path. FAA restrictions prohibited architects from building a towering structure.

So the football field itself lies 100 feet below ground level -- double the depth of any other NFL venue. To accomplish this, more than 7 million cubic yards of dirt were excavated from the stadium bowl.

With most stadiums, fans arrive at ground level and then climb to their seats. At SoFi, they mostly descend. Designers studied cliffside architecture and built terraced pathways, surrounded by landscaped gardens, that lead fans down toward the field.

"We wanted the experience of going down into the stadium to be something truly unique," says Lance Evans, the stadium's lead architect. "So we used the natural landscape and terracing to welcome the fans as they come down the building."

2. The roof has an LED screen that can air live TV to passing airplanes

Kirby Lee/USA Today Sports

The vast roof is made up of hundreds of semi-translucent panels that diffuse sunlight during the day to reduce glare and help cool the building.

At night, the canopy becomes a giant, illuminated screen, thanks to a network of LED lights that can project images and video.

The roof can even air live TV. In November 2020, the Rams showed their Monday Night Football game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the stadium's canopy, offering an aerial show to airplane passengers on their final approach to nearby LAX.

3. It's open on the sides to take advantage of SoCal breezes

The futuristic indoor-outdoor stadium is the work of architecture firm HKS.

Kevin Reece/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images

While the canopy covers the entire football field and the stands, the stadium is open to the elements on its sides beyond the two end zones. The roof also has 46 panels that can be opened to boost airflow.

The aerodynamic design takes advantage of SoCal's temperate climate and earns the facility its "indoor-outdoor" label.

"We carved this building to allow the ocean breezes to pass through it and promote airflow," says Evans, the architect. "But also to give the visitors here connectivity to the beautiful surroundings here in Southern California. So you're looking into Malibu on this side, you can see the Hollywood Hills on the east side, Palos Verdes down to the south."

The open-air design also means that parts of the stadium, despite being sheltered under a massive roof, are susceptible to wind, rain and lightning strikes. That's why a game last October between the Chargers and the Las Vegas Raiders was delayed while a thunderstorm passed overhead.

4. Its hanging video screen is larger than the football field

Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Suspended over the field like a spaceship is an enormous video screen in the shape of a ring.

Its official name is the Infinity Screen by Samsung, and it's the largest such screen in sports -- 70,000 square feet of digital LED, with about 80 million pixels. It's longer and wider than the football field itself.

It's also the only dual-sided screen, meaning that messages and video are shown on its inner and outer surfaces. This is especially helpful to fans seated down near the field, who can gaze up at the inner screen on the opposite side of the ring.

"It can immerse fans in content," Evans says. That's presumably when fans are not watching, you know, the game itself.

5. It has field-level suites just beyond the end zone

Harry How/Getty Images

If you're feeling flush and want to impress several dozen of your buddies, you can reserve a field-level suite, called a bungalow, that's only a few yards from the back of the end zone. The suites are so close to the action that an overthrown pass could land in your plate of nachos.

"They're the closest field seats in the NFL. It'll feel like you're in your backyard," says Evans. "Put your feet up on the green rail, be as casual as can be. It just so happens that the energy of an NFL game is happening 10 feet on the other side of the rail."

6. Tours let you run a 40-yard dash and kick a field goal

From SoFi Stadium

You can book a stadium tour that will take you to the private luxury suites, the teams' locker rooms and an interview room where coaches and players field questions from reporters. As of December 2021, visitors are required to provide proof of vaccination or a negative Covid-19 test result.

But the most memorable part of the tour may be visiting the field itself -- accessed via a 60-foot tunnel to replicate the players' experience of charging onto the turf before a game.

"The tour affords you an opportunity to go down on the field of play ... and actually engage in combine-like activities -- to run the 40-yard dash, to throw a football, to kick a field goal and measure how you perform (when compared) to NFL athletes," Gannon says. "I think that's really the fun and engaging part of the tour."

Just don't pull a hamstring. Tickets start at $30.

CNN's Paul Vercammen contributed to this story.

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/sofi-stadium-super-bowl-cec/index.html