Napa prepares for Super Bowl 50

Napa Valley is gearing up for an influx of visitors arriving for the Super Bowl this weekend.

The big game is taking place in Santa Clara near San Francisco and up to a million fans are expected to be in the area in the run-up to Sunday’s kickoff.

The Super Bowl has always attracted a wealthy clientele (tickets for this year’s game cost upwards of $5,000 each) and increasingly attract a wine rather than a beer-drinking crowd.

The proximity to Napa and Sonoma, just over an hour away, is therefore expected to be an opportunity for fans to escape the crowds and while away the hours until gameday.

“The Super Bowl is clearly different to your typical football event in terms of the type of people who come in from all over the world,” Clay Gregory, president of Visit Napa Valley told USA Today.

“A lot of Super Bowl visitors are looking for a high-end experience and we are in a great position to cater to that.”

The famous Napa Valley Train has rebranded itself as the ‘Big Game Train’ in honour of the event and there are plenty of ex-NFL players who’ve turned their hand to winery-ownership and winemaker after hanging up their cleats.

Former Oakland Raider and Green Bay Packer Charles Woodson owns a winery in Napa while Dick Vermeil who coached the St Louis Rams to a Super Bowl victory has a well-known wine store and tasting room in the centre of town.