All these years later, there still appears to be no love lost between Cowboys legend Michael Irvin and the city of San Francisco.
While the 49ers no longer (technically) call SF home, their nearby stadium in Santa Clara is fresh off of hosting Super Bowl 60. But Irvin wasn’t a fan of the NFL hosting the big game in The Bay and he made that very clear last week.
Advertisement
The Hall of Fame wideout had many a battle with the Niners in the ’90s. But unfortunately for Mike, this year’s world championship didn’t hold nearly as much weight as those NFC battles he helped make so famous decades ago.
University of Miami Alumnus and wide receiver Michael Irvin points to where he made a play during his football career with the Hurricanes.© Audrey Shaw/FSView & Florida Flambeau / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
(© Audrey Shaw/FSView & Florida Flambeau / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)Michael Irvin calls out Super Bowl in SF: ‘NFL cannot come back here again’
Taking to his YouTube channel after the conclusion of the Seahawks’ Super Bowl victory over the Patriots, Irvin gave his honest review of his experience attending the festivities for Super Bowl LX.
Advertisement
“This was a horrible Super Bowl. They should never ever, ever, ever bring the Super Bowl back to San Francisco,” Irvin said. “In all the years of going to a Super Bowl, this was the worst. It was blah in the city. It just wasn’t jumping. The people, blah. The buildings out here looked blah. When you go into an event it was blah.”
“I’m thinking there should be so much money out here because the tech is out here, but it all looked so blah… I couldn’t wait until this moment came to tell you damn! I believe this is the worst Super Bowl I have ever gone to,” Playmaker continued. “NFL, you cannot come back here again. You cannot have a Super Bowl back here again. NFC Championship game, if they earned it, OK.”
Super Bowl 61 returning to SoFi Stadium
Luckily for Irvin, the Super Bowl will be returning to Los Angeles next year where the game will be hosted at the Rams and Chargers’ SoFI Stadium in Inglewood, CA.
Advertisement
Super Bowl 61 will also mark the first-ever Super Bowl broadcast for ESPN and the first on ABC in 20 years. That means the HOF pairing of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman will return to the booth to call their seventh SB game together.
The last time the Super Bowl was held at SoFI the Rams became the first team in NFL history to win it all in their home stadium. And with +950 odds to reach the top of the football mountain again next season, there’s a chance they potentially make it two.
This story was originally published by The Spun on Feb 18, 2026, where it first appeared in the NFL section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.