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 50 the game by residents of the city, the statues notably became the target of vandals, with the "SUPER BOWL 50" lettering on their bases re-arranged to form other phrases such as "SUPERB OWL", "SUP BRO 50", and after the Alamo Square statue was toppled, "OOPS". The annual NFL Experience was held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. In addition, "Super Bowl City" opened on January 30 at Justin Herman Plaza on The Embarcadero, which featured exhibits showcasing the culture of the Bay Area. More than a million people were expected to attend the festivities in San Francisco during Super