Super Bowl LX is scheduled for February 8, 2026 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, the home of the San Francisco 49ers. This stadium is literally right next door to California’s Great America, a Six Flags park. When you’re watching the game on Super Bowl Sunday and you see some of the aerial shots of the stadium you might just catch a glimpse of a roller coaster, but the park will unfortunately be closed. Is this a lost opportunity for Six Flags? Perhaps, but even if the theme park gates are closed that weekend they’ll still make some money because of their parking lot.

California’s Great America actually doesn’t open for the season until March 28, 2026. I’d imagine it might have been tempting for Six Flags to try to open the park for this special event. However, the ramp up and ramp down of staff and equipment nearly 2 months before the regular season was probably too much. Bay Beach in Green Bay, Wisconsin opened for the NFL Draft, but this was only a few weeks earlier than normal. We saw similar decisions being made with the total eclipse in 2024 where some parks in the path looked to have events and others did not. Six Flags Discovery Kingdom is just over an hour north in Vallejo, California and it will be open Super Bowl weekend, so there is the option of directing people there. Note it’s always struck me as weird that Six Flags Discovery Kingdom is essentially a year round park and California’s Great America is very seasonal given their nearly identical location.

Most people headed to Santa Clara will have football and football related events on the mind during Super Bowl week. However many more multiples of people visit than actually have tickets for the game, attending things like the Super Bowl Fan Experience and other events. These events run for several days leading up to the the game on Sunday While in the area a visit to a theme park might not be a priority for most, but it could be an add-on for some. However, Six Flags surely won’t leave Super Bowl weekend completely empty handed financially as their parking lot can be used by Levi’s Stadium and no doubt will fetch a premium on Super Bowl Sunday. People will also physically see the park which will be a lot of free advertising. This is all complicated as well by reports of California’s Great America closing after the 2027 season unless a lease extension can be worked out. So is this a lost opportunity for Six Flags? Probably not, as the costs to open the park 2 months early would probably exceed anything they’d make and they’ll still get a couple of positives just based on proximity.