History-Making Super Bowl: Big Game Brings 3 Black Mayors Together For 1st Time Ever
MIAMI (CBSMiami/CNN) – For the first time ever, Super Bowl 54 has brought together three black mayors: Miami Gardens' Oliver Gilbert, Kansas City's Quinton Lucas and San Francisco's London Breed.
"Black mayors represent cities, large and small, urban and rural, and in every part of the country and for every demographic and race," Gilbert wrote on Instagram.
In today's game, the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs will battle it out on the field at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens at 6:30 p.m. ET Sunday.
Here are the captains leading each city:
Host city: Oliver Gilbert
The leader of the Magic City called the coming together of the three mayors a "huge deal."
"Sometimes we don't have an opportunity to see how far we've come because we all live in a very contemporaneous existence, we live in the day," Gilbert told reporters Saturday. But you can think back to times when their mayors weren't black ... what you see is the diversity and leadership that is black leadership in America now."
According to the US Census Bureau, a little more than 80,000 of the Miami Garden's 113,000 residents are black or African-American.
"I think it's really important because sometimes we need to show people instead of telling them," Gilbert said Saturday. "This is that picture: you have three mayors from different parts of the country, all leading our cities forward."
Gilbert is serving his second term as the city's second mayor.
Chief Kingdom: Quinton Lucas
Meanwhile, for Kansas City's "Mayor Q," the competition has already begun.
In a video directed to the mayor of San Francisco -- filmed from a local Kansas City BBQ spot -- Lucas has a simple offer: we'll bring the BBQ if we lose or -- well, he's pretty confident they're winning.
"We first of all want to congratulate the San Francisco 49ers from what I hear it's been a wonderful season, it's an outstanding team, good work. But as you know your success comes to an end right now," Lucas says.
"One part of your bet, you need to come to Kansas City if you lose and bring us all of the stuff from San Francisco." (And by stuff, he's talking about good food.)
RELATED: Complete Coverage To Super Bowl 54 in Miami
Lucas, who was sworn in as mayor in August, spent the past eight years as a faculty member of the University of Kansas Law School, according to the city's website.
Getting the city to the Super Bowl was a dream he had as a 10 year old, he recently told CNN affiliate KSHB.
"It's a thrilling time, an exciting time, and more than anything, I have to pinch myself sometimes," Lucas told the news station.
Hoping for the 49ers: London Breed
This year's historic marker is not Breed's first milestone. When she was elected San Francisco mayor -- in the summer of 2018 -- she became the first African-American woman to hold that title.
"I'm a native San Franciscan -- I grew up in some of the most challenging of circumstances," she said at the time. "I think the message that this sends to the next generation of young people growing up in this city, that no matter where you come from ... you can do anything you want to do."
Breed graduated from the University of California, Davis, with a bachelor of arts in political science and a minor in African-American studies. She later earned a masters degree in public administration from the University of San Francisco.
And as for her response to Lucas' challenge, Breed agreed to bring San Francisco's best stuff to Kansas City if the 49ers don't come out on top Sunday. Otherwise, she's expecting barbeque.
"I accept your challenge because I love barbeque," she says. "But I know that it's a challenge and we have to put things up ... We have some amazing, incredible foods here in San Francisco like no other."
What does that include? Roast crab and garlic noodles.
"Let's do this, challenge accepted," she said.
(©2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company, contributed to this report.)
