Before anyone knew the ending
Super Bowl LIX, New Orleans: Three Days with Nike, Fanatics and NFL Shop
For most of Super Bowl week, everything has to be ready for an outcome nobody knows yet.
Kansas City and Philadelphia share the same walls. NFL Shop carries both teams. Nike Football asks fans to choose. Red and green keep trading places across the environments while the game that will decide all of it is still days away.
At the same time, another world is being built across town for Fanatics, photographed empty before doors, then filled with people, activations and performances.
Sunday is when all of it finally gets an answer.
SUPER BOWL LIX HIGHLIGHTS
Across New Orleans
The work that disappears by doors
The build at the Sugar Mill
This is the part of an event almost nobody attending it will ever see.
Panels are being cut outside. Frames are being fitted into old brick. Displays, lighting, signage and branding are still separate pieces, with the crew working against the clock to make them feel like they were always meant to be there.
By the time guests arrive, all of that effort is supposed to disappear into the finished room.
I want some of it not to.
Built for either outcome
NFL Shop and Nike Football at the Super Bowl Experience
Before Sunday, the room has to believe in two futures at once.
The same entry pillar flips from Kansas City to Philadelphia. One wall belongs to the Eagles, then the Chiefs. The tunnel tells fans to Choose Your Team. A kiosk asks who they think will win.
Everything is built before anyone knows which version of the weekend becomes history.
That uncertainty is part of the environment.
Fanatics, made physical
The Sugar Mill, before doors
Before anyone arrives, the room makes Fanatics’ wider world unusually easy to see.
Topps. Mitchell and Ness. Lids. Fanatics Sportsbook. Fanatics Collect. Hospitality, retail and brand experiences built side by side inside the same party.
Photographed empty, each idea gets to stand on its own.
A few hours later, none of them stay separate for long.
The whole room is in play
The Fanatics Super Bowl LIX Party
Once the doors open, every part of the room starts doing something.
Guests are spinning the Fanatics Sportsbook wheel, getting hats customized, looking through cards and merchandise, moving between the environments I photographed empty an hour before.
And then there is the stage.
Ciara brings out Ludacris. Post Malone closes with Quavo. Travis Scott, Don Toliver, Meek Mill, Latto and Sexyy Red all move through the same party while athletes, artists, actors and founders move through the room around them.
I’m photographing both at once: the thing everyone is looking at, and everything happening just outside it.
One set became its own story
Post Malone closed the New Orleans party and brought out Quavo for “Congratulations,” one of my favorite performance sequences from the weekend.
Sunday finally answers it
Game day at Caesars Superdome
For two days, the photographs hold both possibilities.
Inside the Superdome, they are still sitting side by side: Eagles and Chiefs uniforms in matching glass cases, Hurts and Mahomes jerseys on the same rail, fans in red and green moving through the same NFL Shop.
One Nike Football line has followed the assignment all week: Big Rings Don’t Come Easy.
Then Sunday stops being hypothetical.
I photograph the game, the crowd, and Kendrick Lamar and SZA at halftime, as the commercial assignment becomes part of the event everything else had been anticipating.
With 4:56 left, the scoreboard reads Philadelphia 40, Kansas City 6. The Chiefs add the final points, Philadelphia wins 40 to 22, and the confetti is green.
Phoenix · Las Vegas · New Orleans · San Francisco
Four consecutive Super Bowls
Explore the complete Super Bowl photography body of work.
Super Bowl LVIII, Las VegasSuper Bowl LVII, Phoenix
Super Bowl LX, San FranciscoAll four Super BowlsCommercial event photography
Common questions
Frequently asked questions
Who hired you for Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans?
Brand Activation Services, to photograph work for Nike, Fanatics and NFL Shop across three days of Super Bowl LIX week in New Orleans.
Where was the Fanatics Super Bowl LIX Party?
The Sugar Mill in New Orleans, on the Saturday before the game. I photographed the build, the finished rooms before doors, and the party itself.
What did you photograph inside the Sugar Mill?
Fanatics Sportsbook and Casino with its Spin and Win wheel, a Mitchell and Ness record shop, a Topps card shop, a Lids hat counter, Fanatics Collect, and a Fanatics and Ray-Ban Meta counter, all photographed empty before doors and again in use.
Who performed at the Fanatics Super Bowl LIX Party?
Performances included Travis Scott, Post Malone with Quavo, Don Toliver, Meek Mill, Latto, Sexyy Red, and Ciara with Ludacris, with Chase B on the decks.
Did you photograph inside the Caesars Superdome on Super Bowl Sunday?
Yes. NFL Shop retail, fans and stadium atmosphere, the game and halftime from credentialed areas. Super Bowl credentialing includes NFL security vetting and identity verification, a process I’ve completed for four consecutive Super Bowls.
Let’s work together
Building something for a big week?
Whether it’s a build-out, a retail activation, a private party or a multi-day program, I’d love to hear about it. Send the date, the city and what you’re making, and I’ll get back to you personally.
Based in Minneapolis, on site wherever the build is.
Get in Touch or email directly: jackson@jacksontylereddy.com