It's 'Super Week' but the spotlight isn't on the game yet
MIAMI - Super Bowl LIV is officially off and running.
It used to be called "Media Night," the Monday night before Super Sunday with both teams brought to the gameday stadium, one after the other, in uniform for photo ops and a chance to meet with the media before getting back to practice and focusing on the game itself.
The concept remains the same but the festivities have changed in recent years.
It's called "Opening Night" now and it's been moved to a large indoor arena - Monday night here in Miami we were in Marlins Park with the roof closed - to assure weather won't be a problem.
It also allows for tickets to be sold to 5,000-to-10,000 fans, and to make it a made for TV event for the NFL Network.
It certainly isn't about the game.
The players aren't in uniform anymore either. The Kansas City Chiefs arrived in all white sweats with their numbers and some special Super Bowl branding on them to give the league one more thing to market and overcharge their fans for.
But hey, if somebody wants to buy it, why not sell it?
The focus opening night is really more about the hype than the game.
This year's contestants are short on players with Super Bowl experience and this event is always a wake-up call for the newbies as to what the constant demands on their time and attention are going to be.
All-Pro safety Tyrann Mathieu is new to the Chiefs this year and new to the Super Bowl and he didn't try and hide his excitement.
"Yeah I mean you know it's the Super Bowl," he said."I'm the rookie here so me I'll try my best to enjoy it as much as I can. Take as many pictures as I can.
"But in the back of my mind, and the front of my mind I understand I'm here for one job and that's to put on my best performance Sunday night.
"You've got to have some balance in there, understand where you're at. I think all of this stuff is beautiful but it can be distracting as well."
Beyond the usual distractions there also remained Monday night the specter of the tragic deaths of Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven others Sunday morning.
Bryant had a special impact on Chiefs defensive end Frank Clark.
"When I was a kid I wanted to play basketball so bad I just tried to live through every moment with him," he said.
"You know when he'd get to that Kobe signature move and try and back down the defender in the post, you know and shoot a jump shot over him to win the game, you know there was nothing like watching him shoot all the game-winning shots
"He's an L.A. king even though he's not from L.A. originally, but he's the king in L.A. and he always will be."
Linebacker Anthony Hitchens added, "I'm not that into basketball but he affected all platforms, football, basketball, soccer any sport.
"Young kids, he affected a lot of people and I think we have to just pray for his (Kobe) family right now."
For Patrick Mahomes Monday night was all about his team and its fans.
"It's amazing the support that Kansas City shows every single year, the ups and downs.
"They are here and playing this game is amazing."
With the Chiefs hour up the media was sent upstairs to gorge on one of the many fast-food buffets that will be flashed in front of us this week and wait for the 49ers to arrive.
It's a little after 9:00 now and San Francisco has just arrived, but it's also climbing on our press time so I'm going to head back down and visit with among others, Chicago's (Arlington Heights' actually) favorite son, Jimmy Garoppolo and I'll tell you all about that tomorrow.
Right now it's Super Bowl week in Miami and the only thing we really don't have enough of is time.
Hopefully this year we'll be able to save more of it for Sunday and the game.
• Hub Arkush, the executive editor of Pro Football Weekly, can be reached at harkush@profootballweekly.com or on Twitter @Hub_Arkush.