Fans react after Chick-fil-A confirms it won't open for Super Bowl despite location in Atlanta stadium
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Chick-fil-A is out of the Super Bowl game.
Super Bowl LIII will be held Feb. 3 at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium — home to one of the popular chicken fast-food restaurants. But keeping in line with its longstanding policy to remain closed on Sundays, Chick-fil-A won’t open its doors on Super Bowl Sunday, the company confirmed in an email to Fox News.
Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy decided in 1946 to keep his first restaurant – located in Hapeville, Ga., – closed on Sundays so “he and his employees could set aside one day to rest and worship if they choose,” according to the company’s website.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}There were questions as to why Chick-fil-A decided to open locations in the new Atlanta stadium since the Falcons, for the most part, play on Sundays. But Chick-fil-A officials defended the decision as a way to cater to customers at events other than NFL games.
“We’re open for about 100 events a year that happen right here at the stadium,” Jonathan Hollis, franchise operator of the Chick-fil-A at Mercedes-Benz Stadium said in a news release. “We have Atlanta United soccer games, concerts, college football games, high school football games, band competitions and more. We even have a monster truck rally!”
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“Having a Chick-fil-A in the stadium allows us to serve a myriad of people throughout the year at all sorts of events,” Hollis said. “We’re here when they’re making memories. And we want to create those memories with them – it’s what we do best.”
Still, Chick-fil-A remaining steadfast in its decision not to open has drawn mixed reactions from aficionados online.
“As if I needed another reason to love [Chick-fil-A],” one woman said in a tweet sharing the news.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“Sometimes your morals mean more than making a buck. Much respect,” another echoed.
But one Twitter user encouraged the restaurant to open the stand, saying “Jesus loves football too.”
Another Twitter user pointed out the restaurant’s closing might be a disappointment to employees who hoped to be at the game.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}For one man, whether he would attend the Super Bowl hinged on Chick-fil-A: “If [Chick-fil-A] decides to open their store in Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Super Bowl Sunday I’m buying a ticket just to say I got Chick-fil-A on a Sunday.”
Super Bowl fans will have plenty of other food options to choose from, including Fries Up, a restaurant that serves loaded fries in the closed Chick-fil-A location on Sundays. There’s also Kevin Gillespie’s Gamechanger restaurant’s “Closed on Sunday” chicken sandwich for those who are hankering for some Chick-fil-A.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Chick-fil-A has opened on Sundays in the past, but usually to give back to the community. Earlier this year, an Alabama Chick-fil-A opened on a Sunday to help Elijah Sprague, who has autism, celebrate his birthday by fulfilling his wish of working the restaurant’s drive-thru lane. And a North Carolina restaurant opened on a Sunday last year to help during relief efforts following the devastating Hurricane Florence.
It’s possible that Chick-fil-A could still get in on the football fun despite not being open for the Super Bowl; ahead of the College Football Playoff championship game, some Chick-fil-A locations in South Carolina created a special breakfast chicken biscuit in the shape of a paw to in honor of Clemson University, the eventual champion.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams will face each other in the February game.