MIAMI, Fla. — Super Bowl LIV won’t just be a football game to remember in the sports world.
It’s the first time the showdown will bring together three black mayors: San Francisco’s London Breed, Miami Gardens’ Oliver Gilbert, and Kansas City’s Quinton Lucas.
“Black mayors represent cities, large and small, urban and rural, and in every part of the country and for every demographic and race,” Gilbert wrote on Instagram.
The Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers will battle it out on the field at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens at 5:30 p.m. CST Sunday.
Here are the captains leading each city:
Hosting in Miami: Oliver Gilbert
The leader of the Magic City called the coming together of the three mayors a huge deal.
“Sometimes we don’t have an opportunity to see how far we’ve come because we all live in a very contemporaneous existence, we live in the day,” Gilbert told reporters Saturday. “But you can think back to times when their mayors weren’t black … what you see is the diversity and leadership that is black leadership in America now.”
According to the US Census Bureau, a little more than 80,000 of Miami Garden’s 113,000 residents are black or African-American.
“I think it’s really important because sometimes we need to show people instead of telling them,” Gilbert said Saturday. “This is that picture: you have three mayors from different parts of the country, all leading our cities forward.”
Gilbert is serving his second term as the city’s second mayor.
Chiefs Kingdom: Quinton Lucas
Meanwhile, for Kansas City’s “Mayor Q,” the competition has already begun.
In a video directed to the mayor of San Francisco — filmed from a local Kansas City BBQ spot — Lucas has a simple offer: we’ll bring the BBQ if we lose or — well, he’s pretty confident they’re winning.
“We first of all want to congratulate the San Francisco 49ers from what I hear it’s been a wonderful season, it’s an outstanding team, good work. But as you know your success comes to an end right now,” Lucas says.
“One part of your bet, you need to come to Kansas City if you lose and bring us all of the stuff from San Francisco.” (And by stuff, he’s talking about good food.)
Lucas became the new mayor back in August. He spent the past eight years as a faculty member of the University of Kansas Law School.
Hoping for the 49ers: London Breed
This year’s historic marker is not Breed’s first milestone. San Francisco elected her as mayor in the summer of 2018. She became the first African-American woman to hold the title.
“I’m a native San Franciscan — I grew up in some of the most challenging of circumstances. I think the message that this sends to the next generation of young people growing up in this city, that no matter where you come from … you can do anything you want to do,” Breed said.
Breed graduated from the University of California, Davis, with a bachelor of arts in political science and a minor in African-American studies. She later earned a Master’s in Public Administration from the University of San Francisco.
As for Lucas’ challenge, Breed agreed to bring San Francisco’s best stuff to Kansas City if the 49ers don’t win the game Sunday. Otherwise, she’s expecting barbecue.
“I accept your challenge because I love barbecue,” she says. “But I know that it’s a challenge and we have to put things up … We have some amazing, incredible foods here in San Francisco like no other.”
What does that include? Roast crab and garlic noodles.
