Super Bowl 2021: No Dancing In Streets This Year At Big Charlie's Saloon, Philadelphia's Chiefs Bar, Due To COVID-19
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Kansas City Chiefs will try to win their second-straight Super Bowl on Sunday, which usually means big business for a South Philadelphia bar. But because of COVID, there will be no dancing in the streets this year at Big Charlie's Saloon.
"There was fireworks, there was music. I know I was crying," Anthony Mazzone Jr. with Big Charlie's Saloon said. "It was crazy. It was something I had never experienced before."
Mazzone's big game dreams came true one year ago. McKean Street was flooded with red and white as Big Charlie's Saloon became synonymous with Super Bowl champs.
"This is an exact replica of the trophy and all of the players received it from Andy Reid, and Coach [Steve] Spagnola wanted to give us one," Mazzone said. "We're not only a better team than we were last year, but we're a more experienced team."
Big Charlie's trophy room is full of Super Bowl swag as the Chiefs now try to go back-to-back.
The only thing missing is the people.
"And in order to invest money to make sure everyone is safe, we just weren't able to open," Mazzone said.
No parties. No patrons. No Big Charlie's.
The corner bar closed three weeks after Super Bowl 54. While the flag still flies outside, the door is locked nearly a year later.
"You also have to put into perspective the people have it way worse and that there's people are losing their lives and their livelihoods," Mazzone said. "Obviously, we're suffering because we haven't been open to the public."
Mazzone says Big Charlie's will not be open to the public Sunday, but in a way, it will be like the old days when Kansas City wandered the football desert in search of a championship.
"It's probably going to be the same amount of people that were here when we were 2-14," Mazzone said, "which is only about a handful of us."
CBS3 is the place to watch Super Bowl 55. Pregame coverage begins at 11:30 a.m. and kickoff between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is at 6:30 p.m.
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