Bright lights and big parties: Super Bowl 2024 arrives in Las Vegas

After six months of preseason, regular season, and NFL playoff action, Super Bowl LVIII is finally here. The San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs will meet for the second time in five seasons to decide who takes home this year's Lombardi Trophy.

The Super Bowl is in Las Vegas for the first time. With a reputation for exciting shows, there'll be plenty of things to do in the area ahead of Super Bowl Sunday. Here's some of the biggest sights and events ahead of the game.

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Super Bowl 2024 parties and events

Super Bowl Experience

Have you ever watched a kicker make a clutch extra point and wondered if you could hit it? Or heard a broadcaster talk about a player's 40-yard dash time and tried to determine how fast you'd run? Well, the Mandalay Bay has what fans need to answer those questions.

The Super Bowl Experience at the Mandalay Bay convention center opens Wednesday afternoon. The building's been converted into a football theme park with 17 games - including a 40-yard dash, vertical jump test, precision passing challenge, and an obstacle course - and 16 exhibits, including a history of the NFL and a collection of all 57 Super Bowl rings.

The experience is open 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday. Prices start at $25 on Wednesday and $50 for Thursday through Saturday and kids ages 12 and under get in for free.

The "Super Bowl Spectacular"

Casears Palace is the NFL's headquarters hotel for the Super Bowl and will offer a free viewing experience in the week leading up to the game. The hotel's Augustus Tower will feature a 65,000-square foot projection playing a three-minute show nightly using 42 laser projectors and a sound system.

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Taste of the NFL 2024

This event north of The Las Vegas Strip features food prepared by chefs Andrew Zimmern, Carla Hall, Tim Love, Lasheeda Perry, and Mark Bucher the day before the big game. This event's become an annual tradition ahead of Super Bowl Sunday. This year's event will give all proceeds to GENYOUth, a non-profit that helps children in the U.S. facing food insecurity.

This year's menu features a mix of sweet and savory dishes and proceeds will primarily benefit students in Nevada.

Shaq's Fun House

The big guy knows big game fun.

Guy's Flavortown Tailgate

Flavortown has a pop-up for the Super Bowl with an event that includes Diplo and what we assume is a lot of flavor bombs.

Marshawn Lynch's Fam1st Big Game Party

The former Seattle Seahawks running back is hosting a charity auction on Wednesday, Feb. 7. Rapper Too $hort will perform and Lynch himself will be serving cocktails at the event. Proceeds benefit the Fam1st charity, Lynch's non-profit to help underserved youth in his hometown of Oakland.

The Legends Party

The NFL Alumni Association and USA TODAY are partnering up for a event to kick off the weekend on Friday, Feb. 9 at AREA15. Former NFL stars LeSean McCoy, Hines Ward, Malcolm Jenkins, and Matt Ryan will be a part of the meet-and-greet in the event. Jason Derulo is set to perform as well.

Necessary Roughness Skills Challenge

Comedians and hosts of the 2 Bears, 1 Cave podcast Tom Segura and Bert Kreischer will face off in a passing, kicking and skills challenge at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Friday, Feb. 9. The two comedians will pick some of their friends to compete on their teams ahead of their show at the Garden Arena at 8 p.m.

Frito-Lay Chip Strip

New York-New York is hosting the fan experience in partnership with Frito-Lay from Thursday, Feb. 8 through Sunday, Feb. 11 on the resort's Brooklyn Bridge. Fans can get married by Chester Cheetah, sit in a stretch limo, and enter to win prizes from the Frito-Lay Snackpot.