In the midst of Super Bowl XLVII, during which the only people who weren't bored or devastated were Seahawks fans, one Super Bowl party was alive with excitement thanks to something called the Snack Stadium.
Tony Livingston, a store manager from Coon Rapids, Minn., decided to go all out for his Super Bowl party and created the ultimate snack food platter.
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It was the Snack Stadium: a five-foot-by-four-foot center of snacking. It stood about three feet tall, with sections full of chips, crackers, meats, cheeses and a special layer of candy ( that's where the box seats are located). In the middle of it all was the cake-frosting field with carrot and pickle players, who wore helmets made from olives and popcorn.
For five years, Livingston has graced his party guests with various iterations of the Snack Stadium, becoming an expert in the process. The inspiration for his first stadium came years ago when Livingston was watching TV days before the Super Bowl. A commercial where fans brought a football stadium made out of sandwiches to a tailgate party caught his attention.
“I immediately knew I could do something on a bigger scale,” Livingston told Mashable. “I looked at my wife and said, ‘I'm doing something like that next year.’”
And the next year, he did. Simply using cardboard and duct tape, Livingston created his first snack stadium in his basement. As the Super Bowl drew closer, Livingston let his family and friends know that something big was coming for that Super Bowl party. A universal hit, the Snack Stadium became a staple for any of Livingston’s Super Bowl parties — parties that get bigger every year as word spreads about Livingston’s creation.

One of Livingston's five children sits amid the framework for his Super Bowl XLVII Snack Stadium last year.
Image: Tony Livingston
Livingston started work on this year’s Snack Stadium in January. He took his time, planning and building this year’s stadium in his free time when he wasn't working or watching his five kids. After finally constructing the stadium in four separate sections, he took it upstairs, taped it all together and wrapped it in aluminum foil. On the morning of the game, he unlocked the flood gates and the snacks poured in.
“The stadium itself is pretty inexpensive to build,” said Livingston. “It’s just the cost of duct tape as you can get cardboard just about anywhere. I think we spent just shy of $300 on food for the stadium. The wife hates that part.”
Like all great things, the Snack Stadium's existence is fleeting — Livingston only creates it for the Super Bowl, to be consumed by voracious fans. And like all great things, it has amassed a certain level of fame among Livingston’s family and friends who have become dedicated noshers of his Snack Stadium creations over the years.
“I always have to laugh as the Super Bowl gets closer because friends will post pictures of other Snack Stadiums on my Facebook page,” said Livingston. “And it's always the same cool one built out of sandwiches. So I jokingly told a buddy of mine this year people will post pictures of my stadium on their Facebook pages instead.”
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