Hawaii & Vegas: Destinations of the Past
As the winter months continue in North America, many sports enthusiasts are sidelined by the cold weather. For decades, North Americans have chosen to escape the low temperatures by jet-setting to winter-month meccas like Hawaii and Las Vegas. Not only is there sun but sports, as well.
Hawaii boasts putting greens that make it a favorite of the PGA Tour, where, this year, fans placed bets between Sony Open favorites Cameron Smith and Brendan Steele. Meanwhile surf enthusiasts flock to the shores of Oahu where Van’s Triple Crown of Surfing event is held, keen to witness pros like Kelly Slater.
Back in the mainland, winter hot-spots like Vegas may lack waves, but they make up for it with flash—especially as January signaled the count-down to Super Bowl LIV between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs. The 54th Super Bowl aired on Sunday, February 2nd at 6:30pm Eastern Time, and showcased the NFL’s highly-anticipated finale where the Kansas City Chiefs took the championship.
Many fans chose to watch the final showdown in the American City of Lights, while others chose an alternative winter destination for sports enthusiasts: Miami.
Miami: A New Destination
If there’s any city that is equipped with consistent, sunny weather and enough sports franchises to keep even the most avid fans and bettors engaged, it’s Miami. The Florida city saw more than 16.5 million visitors in 2018, which showed a 3.5 percent increase from 2017.
A growing number of tourists flock to this city to enjoy a myriad of attractions, from Miami Beach, to culture tours through famous neighborhoods—but it seems to be the vast array of sports-related events and activities that keep people coming back for more.
There’s the American Airlines Arena that hosts the NBA’s Miami Heat, where many local fans place their bets between the hometown favorite and their nearby rivals, the Orlando Magic.
The city’s international soccer team, Inter Miami CF, will welcome David Beckham soon, while the Homestead Miami Speedway hosts the Ford 400, a fast-growing sector in sports betting. Despite the heat, there’s even ice hockey at the Kendall Ice Arena, home to the Miami Panthers.
But on Sunday, February 2nd, 2020, football fans and sports bettors sat down to watch one of North America’s biggest events: the 54th Super Bowl face-off between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs, which was hosted at the newly renovated Hard Rock Stadium. Despite the fact that Miami’s resident NFL team, the Dolphins, weren’t playing, sports pundits and local diehard fans were busy putting in their bets.
The Road to Miami
The Road to Miami began on Thursday, September 5th, 2019, when the Green Bay Packers defeated the Chicago Bears 10-3. Since then, fans have kept their eyes on the stats and relied on professional analysis to determine which team to place their bets on.
Bars in the famed neighborhoods of Little Havana, Miami Beach, and Town Square surrounding Downtown Miami offered everything for the big day, from big screen TVs to draught beers for traveling viewers and bettors. North America’s biggest night in athletics amassed 154.7 million in bets in the Nevada sportsbooks alone, and many relied on the experts’ analysis to spot the statistical trends in order to place wagers on various bets, from title winner, to straight-game wins in the playoffs, to number of rushing yards by player.
This year’s NFL Playoffs attracted 99.9 million viewers and millions more in bets. Wagers weren’t exclusively placed to determine which team would come away with a win. Instead, many who participated chose to wager on prop bets, such as which team would score the first touchdown? And who would score the last?
Now that the Road to Miami has come to an end with the Kansas City Chiefs taking the championship, Miami continues to receive sports fans and travelers from across North America, looking to escape the cold and have fun. The sunny haven is well-prepared for tourists of all kinds—though many will be keeping the 2020-21 NFL season in mind for next year’s big game, leaving both bars and betting sites open to all.