Super Bowl XL meetings held in Atlanta, two years before the stadium opened in 2002; the only previous Super Bowl held in the Detroit area, Super Bowl XVI, had been played at the Pontiac Silverdome in 1982 (also between teams from the AFC North and NFC West divisions [the Cincinnati Bengals and San Francisco 49ers, respectively], though the AFC North was called the Central at that time). The NFL promoted this Super Bowl under the slogan "The Road to Forty." The slogan not only honored the 40-year history of the game, but was a nod to Detroit's traditional role as the center of
Super Bowl XLIX of the Seahawks. This was only the fourth time this has occurred. The other three times were in Super Bowl III (Weeb Ewbank's New York Jets vs. Ewbank's former team, Don Shula's Baltimore Colts), Super Bowl XXXIII (Dan Reeves's Atlanta Falcons vs. Mike Shanahan's Denver Broncos), and Super Bowl XXXVII (Jon Gruden's Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Gruden's former team, Bill Callahan's Oakland Raiders). The only previous time that the old coach's former team had won was in Super Bowl XXXIII. The Patriots had also appeared in the only other Super Bowl to be held at University of Phoenix Stadium to