Interestingly the law that created the TSA expressly allows private security checks if they follow published TSA guidelines.

It's just that the TSA has refused to publish any written guidelines.

So it's entirely possible that airports could just bring in their own security checks.

SFO has private security. But getting it implemented in a week at the busiest airport in the world is probably not realistic.

Why is Super Bowl travel such a big deal? Doesn’t the stadium only seat about 50k people anyway? I understand that the game is exciting, but I don’t see what travel to one venu would be news.

There’s also people traveling for work because of the Super Bowl. The city of Atlanta is granting some exceptions to strip clubs due to the sheer influx of potential patrons and there is almost certainly knowledge among the performing community. Certainly not the only kind of business that will boom for the weekend.

https://www.hotnewhiphop.com/atlanta-strip-clubs-are-being-g...

A lot of people come for the atmosphere and other festivities. I'm sure the actual number of people visiting town for the game is closer to 200k than it is to 50k.

Is this really true? I understand diehard fans going to tailgate parties, but don't the vast majority watch the event at a bar or at home?

This article suggests 125-150k visitors for past Superbowls: http://www.startribune.com/a-million-super-bowl-visitors-est...

For some people (not fucking pats fans though), this is a once in a lifetime chance to see THEIR team play in the biggest game . So yeah, people travel, migrate. For some people it feels like a religious journey. All of your kin are migrating across country for this one event... Just being in the city is cool, you will be seeing rams / patriots jerseys all over Atlanta for the whole week!

75K

record attendance 77K

That's really surprising to me - my favorite college football team regularly sells out their 100k seat stadium during the regular season. Seems like the superbowl is leaving a lot of money on the table.

No joke, the largest college stadiums are bigger than the largest NFL stadiums.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._stadiums_by_capac...

well, fwiw Cowboys Stadium can expand to 105K and has had multiple events at that capacity, which would put it at #3 on that list.

they make a lot more money from TV

When they had the super bowl in Dallas they got 103K in the stadium which has an 80K seating capacity (expandable to 105K)

Had a coworker land there this morning after flying out of New York. Said atl was a total shit-show.

Atlanta is the busiest airport in the country, there will be a lot of angry people if this happens at any time. That's not even mentioning the networks effects of a delay at ATL causing delays at other airports around the country.

Not just the country, it’s the busiest airport in the world. I expect Beijing will overtake it soon, though.

Good point. Actually that makes me think that it will magically get resolved just in time so that it doesn't interfere with wealthy-people's Super Bowl Plans.

Atlanta is the busiest airport in the world; it would be a mess whether it's Super Bowl weekend or not.

I lived there for a couple of years for grad school, and flew out about once a week in my final semester for interviews. The airport is a super well-oiled machine, it doesn;t really feel different from say, San Francisco. IMO it feels way more comfortable than LaGuardia, which is easily one of the worst airports I've been at in the US.

I hope it feels different from San Francisco, which is a total unmitigated disaster for anyone coming in from an international flight on weekends, and not particularly efficient even for domestic flights.

Atlanta resident here, couldn't agree more. It has always been the most efficient airport for me to fly out from, so far...

I listened to a podcast where a guest was talking about this - maybe NYTimes Daily? They said that because the tickets are so expensive there'll be a huge amount of private jets flying in to the area, and suggested that refusing to handle those would put enormous pressure on Trump.