Morning Brief: The NFL In LA, A Live Puppy Bowl, And Local Street Food

Good morning, L.A. It’s Feb. 10.

This Sunday’s big game will be the first Super Bowl that L.A. has hosted in 29 years. There are a handful of reasons for that — for one, we didn’t have an NFL team here for 28 of those 29 years — but local executives and officials are hoping Super Bowl LVI will be the first of many in L.A.

With that in mind, my colleague Matt Dangelantonio took a stroll down local football memory lane, and a look ahead.

The last time SoCal hosted a Super Bowl was 1993; think Bill Clinton in the White House and Whitney Houston on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. That year, at the Rose Bowl, the Dallas Cowboys steamrolled the Buffalo Bills 52-17. It was a glorious day in sports history, but within two years, both the Rams and the Raiders left L.A., rendering it ineligible to host another championship game under NFL rules.

Behind the scenes, there was much more going on. Longtime L.A. sports executive Alan Rothenberg told Matt that “unhappy relationships” between the L.A. Coliseum Commission and the Raiders and Rams contributed to the NFL staying out of L.A.

Additionally, he said, “the NFL embarked on a pretty extensive program of requiring cities to come up with financial packages in order to help NFL owners build stadiums."

Now, however, things have changed. The Rams are back. The Chargers are here, too. And SoFi Stadium is drumming up excitement among average Angelenos and football fanatics alike —the stage seems set for Sunday to mark the beginning of a beautiful (mended) relationship.

"We are planning to host a Super Bowl every four or five years," said Kathryn Schloessman, CEO of the Los Angeles Super Bowl Host Committee. “It’s finally all coming together.”

Keep reading for more on what’s happening in L.A., and stay safe out there.

What Else You Need To Know Today

• Amid a critical blood shortage, L.A. County Supervisors are calling on the FDA to immediately eliminate donation restrictions on gay and bisexual men.
• L.A. could soon ban bike "chop shops," services that assemble, disassemble or sell bikes and bike parts on streets or other public spaces. 
• Dr. Roxane Gay, author and contributing opinion writer for the New York Times, has joined Occidental College's Critical Theory and Social Justice Department. 
• A small number of physicians are willing to eschew the best COVID-19 treatments and provide alternative therapies made popular by disinformation, for a price.
• The film industry is finally starting to consistently hire more women and people of color to direct large-scale feature films.
• A sexy Thursday night Super Bowl Party, a three-day festival with food trucks and performers, a live puppy bowl at a brewery … these are just some of the myriad events in L.A. leading up to the Super Bowl.

Before You Go ... LA's Best Street Food

You haven't been to L.A. until you've been to L.A. street vendors.

(

Alborz Kamalizad

/

LAist

)

If you haven’t eaten a taco from a food truck or a bacon-wrapped hot dog from a street vendor, have you even been to L.A.? Our street food scene is unlike any other, from pupusas to soup dumplings to barbeque and more. Here are some of the spots you absolutely cannot miss.