2021 update: The league has alternated home and away teams for the Super Bowl. We are awaiting confirmation, but the NFC will likely be the home team for the game. The Buccaneers beat the Packers in the NFC title game, which means we could see the Bucs as home team in their home stadium for Super Bowl 55.
The Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers square off in Super Bowl 54 this coming Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium. Roman numeral LIV somehow seems appropriate for a Super Bowl in Miami. The game kicks off at approximately 6:30 p.m. ET and will air on FOX.
The game is played on a neutral field, but we still get one side designated as the home team and one side designated as the road team. There is nothing complicated about the determination — the league rotates the home team by conference each year. Last year, the NFC champion Los Angeles Rams were deemed the home team while the AFC champion New England Patriots were deemed the road team. This year, the 49ers are the road team and the Chiefs are the home team.
This is pertinent information for two reasons: uniforms and the coin toss.
Uniforms
The home team gets to determine which uniforms they will wear for the game. Usually a team sports their traditional home colors, but sometimes the weather will impact it. If a team has a hot weather game coming up at home, they sometimes will wear their road whites to make life a little easier. For the 2020 Super Bowl, the Chiefs have elected to wear their home uniforms which consist of a red top with gold trim and white pants with red and gold trim. The 49ers will wear their road uniforms, which consist of a white top and gold pants with red and white trim.
Coin toss
UPDATE: The 49ers called tails and won the coin toss.
The coin toss might be more important. The road team gets to make the call on the coin toss, which means the 49ers will call the coin toss on Sunday. While it is a mostly 50/50 proposition, getting a chance to defer is a big deal. Tails never fails can be a popular call, so this means the 49ers will get a chance to decide if that’s the case or if they’re more of a heads type of team.