Excitement builds as Super Bowl game day arrives
TAMPA, Fla. - It's almost here: Super Bowl 55 will be underway tonight around 6:30 p.m.
The Buccaneers will be trying to walk away as the first team in history win the Super Bowl on their home field.
"It means everything," said Ren Turner, who traveled from Tennessee just to take in the atmosphere of his favorite team being in the Super Bowl. "We got this far. It is not over yet. Until we win it all, that is when we will really get excited."
The enormity of the moment is setting in as the Tampa Police Department closed roads around the stadium.
Dale Mabry Highway and Himes Avenue are both closed between Columbus Drive and Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue.
Before the roads were closed, Bucs fans parked along Dale Mabry Highway to jump out and get a picture with a giant billboard that says, "Go Bucs."
"I've been a fan since day one," one said.
Other fans wanted their kids to feel the excitement. Andy Kinzie grew up watching winning Bucs football, and wants his son to know that has been the exception as opposed to the rule.
"As you can see I am wearing a Derrick Brooks jersey," said Kinzie. "It has been a while, you know? I brought him up to love the Bucs, it's fortunate for them to be able to see it."
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But not many will be able to do so in person, given the 65,000-seat stadium will only have about 22,000 spectators for the big game.
And the odds say that whatever happens Sunday will never happen again.
A home team trying to play hero in the host city? The Bucs want to be the only team to ever cross that off the Buc-et list.