Sarasota Memorial Nurses Surprised With Super Bowl LV Tickets

SARASOTA, FL — What started as a normal Zoom work meeting, ended with a Super Bowl surprise for some frontline health care workers at Sarasota Memorial Hospital.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell crashed their meeting Friday to surprise the nurses with free tickets to Super Bowl LV, which takes place Feb. 7 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

The NFL shared the video on Twitter, announcing its plan to invite 7,500 vaccinated health care workers to the Super Bowl. Sarasota Memorial Hospital was the first group to receive its invitation.

“I am the son of a nurse. All of you have a very special place in my heart,” Goodell said in the video. “I’ve seen the work that you do. My mom used to talk about it all the time. It’s just extraordinary work and we owe you our ongoing gratitude and can’t thank you enough.”

He said the NFL will extend invitations to the big game to other vaccinated health care workers over the next two weeks.

“We can’t thank you enough. We hope that this program will be a small way to celebrate you, honor you and, most importantly, thank you,” he said.

Like what you're reading? Invite a friend to subscribe to free Sarasota newsletters and real-time email alerts.

The NFL will allow 22,000 fans — including the guest health care workers — to attend Super Bowl LV, CNN reported. The league worked closely with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Florida Department of Health and local health care systems to determine how many fans could safely attend the game.