Super Bowl LI XXXVIII in 2004, which also featured the New England Patriots against that season's NFC South champion Carolina Panthers. It was also the third time the Super Bowl has been played in Houston, with Super Bowl VIII in 1974 having been held at Rice Stadium. With the Astros baseball team reaching the World Series eight months later, Houston would become just the fourth city to host both the Super Bowl and Fall Classic in the same calendar year, following San Diego (1998), Detroit (2006) and Arlington, Texas (2011); and the first among the four to win the Major League Baseball championship.
Super Bowl XLVIII was particularly cold in North America. However, the concerns never materialized as a timely warm front had moved into the region prior to the game; the kick-off temperature for the game was , never threatening the Super Bowl record low temperature of in Super Bowl VI, held at New Orleans' Tulane Stadium. Precipitation was limited to an occasional drizzle in the latter portions of the game. The Hyatt Regency in Jersey City, New Jersey served as the home for the Broncos during their stay. The team took up 150 of the 351 rooms until the night of January 29 before