Good News, Football Fans! Atlanta Strip Clubs Open For Super Bowl

ATLANTA, GA—Super Bowl 53 (or LIII to purists) will be played in Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, on February 3, but as with any Super Bowl, interest in the game itself often comes in a distant second to the entertainment and nightlife opportunities offered by the host city for fans who travel to see the game live in person. And now, according to a scoop by TMZ, Atlanta will have one more entertainment option available for football fans for whom the action on the gridiron is not enough: strip clubs. Of course, like any major American city, Atlanta has a healthy roster of adult entertainment venues, but under city law, those nightclubs must remain shuttered on Sundays—unless they also function as restaurants. That effectively cut the strip joints out of what promises to be a windfall of tourist cash on February 3.  So a group of the city’s gentlemen’s clubs, including Blue Flame Lounge, The Cheetah and Magic City, banded together and took their case before the city council—and somehow this presumably public hearing went unreported by the media, other than the celeb gossip site TMZ. In spite of, or perhaps more likely because of, the lack of advance publicity surrounding the clubs’ petition, the bid to stay open on the one Sunday that the Super  Bowl comes to town was a success. But the success may say less about the liberal attitudes of Atlanta government toward adult entertainment than it does about the city’s desire for increased revenues flowing into Atlanta municipal coffers. According to TMZ, to meet the anticipated demand, Atlanta clubs are importing performers from as far away as New York and Los Angeles to fulfill the quota of dancers with requirements described by TMZ as "bomb body, pretty face, smell good ... and no bullet wounds.” But the catch is, the clubs must pay $350 each to license the newly imported dancers.  The teams that will play in Super Bowl 53 have not yet been determined, but will be either the New England Patriots or Kansas City Chiefs from the AFC, facing an NFC foe to be determined by the winner of Sunday’s playoff game between the New Orleans Saints and Los Angeles Rams. Photo by Rick Hall/Wikimedia Commons