A quirk in the Super Bowl rules means the Bengals are the home team even though the game is being played at the Rams' stadium
- The Rams will play compete in Super Bowl LVI from the comforts of their home arena, SoFi Stadium.
- But due to a quirk in the NFL rules, the Rams will not be the home team on Sunday.
The Los Angeles Rams will take the field at SoFi Stadium to face off against the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI on Sunday.
It's the second straight year that an NFL team will compete in a Super Bowl in their home stadium, with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lifting the Lombardi Trophy at Raymond James Stadium last season.
But while the Rams will be playing in their home stadium on Sunday, they will not be the home team.
The home team designation in NFL games is usually obvious — whichever team is hosting the game. Not that complicated. But at the Super Bowl, which is played at a neutral site venue decided years in advance, the honor of being the home team flips between the AFC and NFC each year.
Last year, the Buccaneers were the home team, meaning this year, the AFC's representative is the home team. It just so happened that the team coming out of the NFC called SoFi Stadium home.
In the Super Bowl, the home and road designations aren't too consequential. Because they are the home team, the Bengals got to choose which uniforms they'd wear on Sunday. They chose black, meaning the Rams will be wearing white. Meanwhile, as the road team, the Rams will call the coin toss.
In another year, there might have been a bit of confusion about which team would be in which locker room — could the team that is by rule the home team kick the team that actually plays in the Super Bowl stadium out of their usual locker room?
But due to the nature of SoFi Stadium, which hosts two teams in Los Angeles, the issue is a nonfactor. Rather than a home and road locker room, SoFi Stadium is outfitted with two home locker rooms — one for the Rams, and one for the Chargers. The Rams won't have to change their lockers for the biggest game of their season.
While the Rams won't technically be the home team on Sunday, the game is still being played in Los Angeles, so the crowd should be on their side. It'll be up to them to turn that advantage into a win on the field.