5 Ways Mining Makes the Super Bowl Super
Super Bowl LIII kicks off this Sunday in Atlanta. Whether you’re rooting for the Patriots, the Rams, or are just happy for the opportunity to stuff your face, here are 5 ways mining makes the Super Bowl truly super.
Lombardi Trophy
All season long, NFL teams compete for one of the most prestigious awards in American professional sports, the Lombardi Trophy. The trophy costs $50,000 to make, requires seven pounds of silver, and takes four months to construct.
Super Bowl 50 was Golden
To celebrate the Super Bowl 50, the golden anniversary, the NFL went all out in celebration. A special coin for the coin toss was plated in 24 karat gold. The NFL also placed large golden “50” statues throughout the game’s host city, San Francisco. There was even a discussion about making a one-time gold Lombardi Trophy to give to the winners before deciding against it.
Fans attending the game could get into the gold fever as well. One of the food options at the game was a $12 hot dog sprinkled with flakes of real gold. Not a bad price considering the average ticket price for the game was nearly $5,000!
Field Turf
Not only are teams playing for mined materials, they play on them too. Stadiums like Atlanta’s Mercedes Benz Stadium, host of this year’s Super Bowl, use field turf instead of natural grass as a playing surface. Turf fields consist of blades of synthetic grass made of petroleum-based nylon or polyethylene. Field turf is a popular replacement for grass in indoor stadiums and in areas where weather makes it difficult to maintain a grass playing field.
The Ring
Following the Super Bowl, players and staff of the victorious team are rewarded with a championship ring. The custom designed rings are worth tens of thousands of dollars, include hundreds of diamonds, and also are required to be made of 10-karat gold.
Makes the Party
People all over the country will be attending Super Bowl Sunday parties, and mining makes many of the things that help us enjoy the big game. The 50 million cases of beer America consumes during the Super Bowl are filtered with diatomaceous earth. Televisions require minerals like gold, silver, and copper. Even the cars and roads that help us get to our destination require a countless number of mined materials.