With New Orleans hosting Super Bowl LIX (59) on February 9th, 2025 the Superdome has been going through a major renovation that is near completion. The interior of the Superdome has gone through a complete transformation from the original design of the building. The outside of the building got a fresh look as well. All of the exterior panels on the building had faded from their original color. They have all been replaced with new panels with the original color of the building. Also, all of the bricks around the Superdome on the apron were stripped down and resurfaced to their original color. To some these details may go unnoticed. However, anyone that hasn't been inside the Superdome within the past year will be stunned by the changes made with the renovations now completed. Those attending the preseason home game August 25th, 2024 will get a firsthand look at the makeover to the grand gal of domes.
The Saints released an update August 15th, 2024 on their official website.
Excerpts:
Leading up to the team's preseason home opener on Aug. 25, the New Orleans Saints will be unveiling the final updates of the Caesars Superdome's dynamic $560 million transformation, strategically aimed at enhancing the facility's fan experience. The team has proudly committed nearly $180 million toward the $560 million project. The collaborative project funded by the New Orleans Saints, Louisiana Stadium & Exposition District (LSED), and the State of Louisiana has progressed over a five-year period through the work of a team of architects, contractors, designers and construction workers operating around the clock in order to reach its completion by the start of the 2024 Saints season. Saints season ticketholders and their guests will be the first to experience the remarkable evolution of the facility prior to the building hosting the National Football League's showcase event, Super Bowl LIX, on Feb., 9, 2025, the year which will also be the 50th anniversary of the stadium.
The purpose of the Caesars Superdome transformation project is to preserve the character of the building's iconic exterior, while elevating its overall functionality and the gameday experience for all guests. These modernizations bring the facility in line with stadiums being built and renovated across the world, thus keeping the storied home of the Saints and the city of New Orleans as ideal hosts for the upcoming and future Super Bowls, as well as numerous national and international events for decades to come. Equally as important, the Caesars Superdome will continue to serve as a source of great civic pride while providing a significant economic impact for the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana.
As a fully transformed Caesars Superdome makes its debut in 2024, the New Orleans Saints look forward to highlighting the following aspects:
Wireless and Cellular Upgrades
Vertical Transportation Upgrades
Three Brand-New Atriums
New Premium Spaces
Two New 40-Yard Bars
Additional Fan Amenities and Technology Improvements
Transformed Food and Beverage Service Following Back-of-House Upgrades
Enhanced Accessibility for Disabled Fans and Guests With Sensory Issues
Importance of Super Bowls to the Caesars Superdome and City of New Orleans
Wireless and Cellular Upgrades at Caesars Superdome
Thanks to the efforts of the New Orleans Saints, LSED, ASM Global—which played a significant role in the installation of new technology—technology experts, the team's wireless partner Verizon and additional cellular providers, an important part of the Caesars Superdome's dynamic $560 million transformation to enhance the facility's fan experience are extensive upgrades to the wireless and cellular experience for fans on gameday. Whether using WiFi or cellular service, guests will experience best-in-class speeds throughout the stadium.
Wireless and cellular accessibility has become essential to the gameday experience in NFL stadiums. In enhancing their gameday experience, fans not only use their smartphones to make and receive phone calls and send and receive emails and text messages, but to view the New Orleans Saints mobile app presented by Verizon, use mobile ticketing, check scores and live statistics, view replays, receive updates on their fantasy teams and make contactless purchases of food, drink and merchandise.
Excerpts From a September 5th, 2023 article by Carlie Kollath Wells of Axios as viewed at axios.com
Caesars Superdome unveils new bathrooms and escalators during $500M renovation
What's happening: Entrances have changed. Food/drink options have been added, and bathrooms have expanded. Walkways have been upgraded and widened, and a faux skylight opens up the space.
New security features will speed up lines getting into the Superdome as well, official say.
Entrance Gates Are Now Specific For Your Ticket!
Zoom in: Ticket holders in the 500 and 600 levels, aka the terrace, will see big changes for their game day experience.
New escalators take guests to their seats in about 65 seconds. It used to take five to seven minutes via the ramp system that's been removed, according to Doug Thornton, the executive vice president of ASM Global.
Plus, women's bathrooms throughout the Dome have more stalls, addressing what officials say was one of the top complaints from visitors. And, baby changing tables are available in the men's and women's restrooms.
Wheelchair users have new ADA-accessible seats and viewing decks on various levels, along with ADA-friendly elevators.
Worth noting: A new bar and concession area, called Caesars Legends Club, has been added in the 200 level for people with club-level tickets.
And they've already submitted their application to host future Super Bowls
"It has nothing to do with our building," he said. "It has everything to do with our calendar and how it lines up with Mardi Gras."
From a June 26th, 2023 article from the Saints official website:
Caesars Superdome transformations update | Envision the Future: Part 4
The New Orleans Saints are pleased to unveil the latest updates to the Envision the Future transformation of the Caesars Superdome. The five-year project is a collaborative effort between the Louisiana Stadium & Exposition District (LSED), the New Orleans Saints and the State of Louisiana, and the project continues to near its 2024 scheduled completion date. Saints season ticket holders and their guests will be the first to experience the remarkable evolution of Caesars Superdome, while the building's global unveil will be completed in advance of the 2025 Super Bowl in New Orleans, which will also mark the stadium's 50th anniversary.
Excerpts from a January 26th, 2024 article by Brett McCormick of Sports Business Journal as viewed at sportsbusinessjournal.com
The Caesars Superdome four-phase renovation project Phases 1 and 2: The first round of ramp removals (over 40,000 square feet worth) and the construction of new stairwells; the creation of new end zone suites and the adjoining 4,000-square-foot Mercedes-Benz End Zone Club; new commissary that will improve F&B service; and viewing decks carved into the bowl on multiple levels.
Phase 3: The biggest phase of the project took out 80,000 square feet of ramps from just the east side of the stadium alone, using that freed space to create two vertical entry lobbies called atriums, with high-speed escalators to move fans from the event level to the upper deck; a new sideline club was added, and other premium areas improved; and the addition of a new team store.
Phase 4: Will be completed by this summer and essentially replicates much of Phase 3 in terms of atrium additions, food service and ingress/egress improvements, and the new sideline club, but on the west side of the building.
New Orleans is a city that reveres its public spaces, what locals call the neutral ground. New Orleanians celebrate weddings and funerals in the streets, not to mention Mardi Gras.
One of the city’s most famous public spaces, the Caesars Superdome, turns 50 years old next year. Only 10 American pro sports stadiums are older and still in use, but Superdome stakeholders would expect their building to last at least a few more decades once its four-phase, $535 million renovation wraps up this summer ahead of hosting Super Bowl LIX in 2025.
As unsexy as it sounds, one of the project’s critical changes removed hundreds of thousands of square feet of concrete ramps that fans used to reach the upper levels of the dome, replacing them with much more elegant and efficient escalators, and providing in some areas open space to the Superdome’s exterior wall for the first time. It’s rare that a building gains back that much square feet without touching its exterior.
The ramps were apropos of architectural trends, and building code, when the Superdome opened in 1975. Other improvements shook the stadium free of its last 1970s-era shortcomings, especially its Americans with Disabilities Act struggles, which led to lawsuits in recent years. The renovation now takes the Superdome far beyond just complying with the ADA, which didn’t exist when it first opened.
Excerpts for an 8/23/24 article by the New Orleans Saints as it appeared on the Saints Official Website:
Part 8: Caesars Superdome transformation to be completed for 2024 New Orleans Saints season
Saints are taking significant steps to ensure that all fans can enjoy an inclusive gameday experience at the Caesars Superdome
Excerpts for an 8/24/24 article by the New Orleans Saints as it appeared on the Saints Official Website:
Part 9: Caesars Superdome transformation to be completed for 2024 New Orleans Saints season
When Super Bowl LIX comes to New Orleans on Feb. 9, 2025, it will be the eighth time the iconic facility hosts this marquee event, extending its record as the stadium to host the most Super Bowls
For a building with 2 million square feet of space, the Superdome felt cramped. Much of the renovation focused on reclaiming space consumed by outdated design, like the stadium’s 200 level, a remnant of its multipurpose roots originally named the Convention Level for its four 16,000-square-foot halls in each corner of the stadium. Those were converted into new clubs, part of a significant premium upgrade that included the Mercedes-Benz End Zone Club and adjoining on-field suites.
The newly freed space enabled the creation of four new entrance atriums. They are modern, airy and inviting foyers in the stadium’s corners that open into the seating bowl and should instantly dash previous visitors’ conceptions of the Superdome. Towering open, vertical spaces previously filled with concrete ramp slabs every 12 feet are now more inclusive of natural light. What once was a 5- to 6-minute walk up a Jacob’s ladder of concrete pads to the stadium’s upper levels, intermittently broken up by short escalator rides, now takes roughly 70 seconds on a high-speed escalator more than 100 feet tall.
The concourses and new standing room-only viewing decks claimed some of the former ramp space, too. When the renovation’s fourth phase is finished, a pair of new 40-yard-long bars will run down the middle of the concourse on both sidelines of the stadium.
The building’s food service will have dramatically more firepower with kitchens on every level — again, filling some of the space vacated by the ramps — as well as satellite kitchens near all premium areas. Until this renovation, cooking was done only in the lower levels of the bowl or in the nearby Smoothie King Center.
“The people that were here for the last Super Bowl are going to see a completely different stadium,” Thornton said.