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New Orleans feels like South Philly today. The Superdome might as well be the Linc.
I’m here as a first-time Super Bowler and the wife of an Eagles devotee, and all weekend we’ve been talking about the disproportionate number of Philadelphia fans versus Kansas City Chiefs fans at events.
This afternoon, at the NFL Gameday Experience area inside the Superdome security perimeter, I’d say there is twice as much green as red represented.
It makes sense: The Eagles lost to the Chiefs two years ago, and Chiefs fans have had two chances in a row to attend the big game.
Fox, the broadcaster of this year’s Super Bowl matchup, originally sought about $7 million for 30 seconds of ad time during the game, the highest-rated event in the United States.
But corporate demand has surpassed even Fox’s expensive ambitions. The network has sold at least 10 of its Super Bowl commercial spots for upward of $8 million each, a person with direct knowledge of the matter confirmed to CNN.
The $7 million figure was already a record, so $8 million sets the bar even higher for next year’s game, given that the Super Bowl is a one-of-a-kind sports and media spectacle. Despite pressures in almost every other part of the television industry, the Super Bowl just keeps growing.
The $8 million deals were done relatively late in the process, the source said, after some expected sponsors sought to give up their ad time slots.
Companies pull their advertisements out of the Super Bowl for all sorts of reasons: Sometimes they reserve time months in advance, but then conclude that they don’t have the perfect 30-second message to spend the money on. This year, the California wildfires caused one sponsor, State Farm Insurance, to step back.
There are no true take-backs however: The companies that reserved Super Bowl time and opt not to use it wind up with ads on other Fox programs at other times, instead.
In any case, there were more than enough companies eager to replace them, which is why Fox was able to command $8 million.
For many years, Andy Reid was synonymous with midnight green, white and black. Now, he is best known for red, white and gold.
Reid was a vastly successful head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles for 14 seasons, leading the team to nine playoff appearances, five NFC championship games and one Super Bowl.
In 2013, he switched Pennsylvania for Missouri to become head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, going on to even greater heights with three Super Bowl victories to his name, including two in the last two seasons.
On February 9, Reid has a chance to etch his name in the history books for the umpteenth time as the Chiefs seek to become the first NFL team to win three titles in a row.
However, like he did two years ago, Reid will be coming up against a familiar foe at Super Bowl LIX — the Eagles.
In 2023, Super Bowl LVII ended in the most dramatic of fashions, with a field goal with eight seconds remaining that sealed Kansas City’s victory and Reid’s second career championship ring as a head coach.
This time around, Reid — widely considered one of the best head coaches in NFL history — will be aiming for something similar.
Catch up on Reid’s legacy here.
President Donald Trump has predicted a Super Bowl win for the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.
Offering praise to Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, Trump said in an interview with Fox News, “I guess you have to say that when a quarterback wins as much as he’s won, I have to go with Kansas City. I have to go with Kansas City.”
“At the same time, Philadelphia has a fantastic — it’s going to be just a great game,” the president added.
Trump made the comments during an interview taped Saturday at his Mar-a-Lago club that aired during the Super Bowl pregame show. The president is set to make history tonight as the first sitting president to attend the Super Bowl.
Trump said he was “surprised” to learn he would be the first to hit that milestone.
“I would have assumed many presidents came, but I think just the spirit of the country — the country has taken on a whole new life. I thought it would be a good thing for the country to have the president be at the game. It’s an iconic day,” he said.
Trump will be a guest of New Orleans Saints owner and businesswoman Gayle Benson. He is also expected to attend a meet-and-greet with the game’s honorary coin toss participants, family members of victims of the New Year’s Bourbon Street terror attack, New Orleans Police Department officials, and emergency personnel, according to a White House official.
Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar will be the headlining act for the Super Bowl LIX halftime show.
This will be his first time headlining the mid-game performance, which is viewed by millions of people every year. The “Not Like Us” rapper made his debut on the Super Bowl halftime show stage in 2022 when he performed alongside Eminem, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige and 50 Cent.
Jay-Z, whose company Roc Nation will serve as the strategic entertainment advisor of Lamar’s live performance, called the rapper a “truly a once-in-a-generation artist and performer” in a statement.
“His deep love for hip-hop and culture informs his artistic vision. He has an unparalleled ability to define and influence culture globally,” Jay-Z added. “Kendrick’s work transcends music, and his impact will be felt for years to come.”
About the artist: Lamar is one of hip-hop’s most celebrated artists. He has won 22 Grammys — including five at the award show held last weekend — and earned a Pulitzer Prize for his 2017 album “Damn,” becoming the first non-classical, non-jazz musician to win the coveted honor.
He released his sixth studio album, “GNX,” last year.
Kendrick vs. Drake: “Not Like Us,” which was released in April and claimed the No. 1 spot on the chart for two weeks, was viewed by many fans as the decisive blow in Lamar’s rap beef last year with Drake, whose own status as a global music superstar made the feud a must-watch.
What started as somewhat cryptic slights on collaborative tracks culminated in spring of 2024, with Drake and Lamar quickly dropping multiple diss tracks back and forth with increasingly pointed and controversial claims about the other.
Drake is now battling his own record label over “Not Like Us,” suing UMG Recordings for defamation and seeking compensatory and punitive damages over the label’s publishing and promotion of the Lamar hit.
Out of the loop? Here’s a full breakdown of the events.
Announced guest: Grammy-winning R&B singer-songwriter SZA, a longtime collaborator of Lamar’s who will soon embark on a tour with the rapper, is expected to appear on stage at the big game.
Past halftime shows have ranged from essentially solo acts to medleys featuring a handful or more artists, so it will be interesting to see who — if anyone — also makes an appearance.
Humor and celebrity cameos are in at this year’s Super Bowl, while gambling and cryptocurrency are out.
That’s the game plan for the 50 brands advertising during Sunday’s big game. With more than 120 million viewers expected to tune in, the yearly top-rated TV show is a prime opportunity to attract attention, with brands focusing on familiar faces and products.
“It is so hard to get and keep people’s attention — like everything else in the media landscape today — so brands are relying on celebrities, mascots and intellectual property that have ‘pre-awareness’ factor to assure that their message cuts through,” according to Paul Hardart, a clinical professor of marketing for New York University’s Stern School of Business.
One of the biggest examples of this trend is Instacart’s upcoming spot, with the grocery delivery app buying its first-ever Super Bowl ad and filling it with well-known consumer mascots, including Mr. Clean, Cheetos’ Chester the Cheetah and the Pillsbury Doughboy.
Other brands are hiring celebrities for their message, too. Uber Eats has Martha Stewart and Kevin Bacon to promote its alleged conspiracy that football was invented to sell food; Stella Artois is bringing back David Beckham and throwing in a Matt Damon cameo; Coffee-mate has hired Shania Twain.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, as Hardart told CNN, there will “be a fair number of ads” for artificial intelligence. Chris Pratt, Kris Jenner and Chris Hemsworth are starring in a Meta ad promoting AI-powered glasses, while the Muppets use Booking.com’s new AI tool to plan a trip.
“This is a common trend when there is a new product or technology,” Hardart said, pointing to the cryptocurrency ads that dominated the game in 2023 and betting apps that were popular last year — both categories that won’t return en masse this year.
Read more about this year’s Super Bowl commercials.
Minnesota Vikings superstar wide receiver Justin Jefferson is expecting to see big things from Sunday evening’s Super Bowl.
Jefferson told CNN’s Coy Wire that the Eagles running game and the speed on the Kansas City Chiefs offense are his keys to the game.
“Their offense alone is so dynamic, and it’s so crazy to see what they have been doing this whole entire year,” Jefferson said of Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley and the rest of the Eagles offense.
Jefferson shouted out Patrick Mahomes, Xavier Worthy and Travis Kelce as the players to watch for the Chiefs.
“It’s tough to go up against those type of guys, especially what they’ve been doing for the past three or four years,” Jefferson said.
Jefferson hasn’t played in a Super Bowl yet in his young career, but he certainly knows what it’s like to perform on the sport’s biggest stages. And often, he’s called upon to make the big play in the big moments.
“You know the play is going to come to you and the defense knows it’s coming to you,” Jefferson told Wire. “So, to have to go between two guys, having to go over those double-teams, triple-teams and still making a big play for your team to continue to try to continue to go and win the game — that’s one of the best feelings.”
He added, “It’s like everything happens in slow motion. It’s like a movie, you know, a movie script, and you’re watching and it’s like you’re outside of your body. It’s a feeling that you really cannot explain.
President Donald Trump is expected to attend Super Bowl LIX at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Sunday, a White House official told CNN.
The guest list was still being prepared last week, the official said, though House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana native, is in talks to join him.
With his Sunday attendance, Trump will make history as the first sitting US president to attend a Super Bowl.
Security measures: There is a significant security presence around the Super Bowl, with or without a presidential visit, but a source familiar with the planning described heightened preparations ahead of Trump’s attendance.
The Super Bowl is designated as an “NSSE,” a national special security event, requiring a whole-of-government strategy to securing the venue and the region.
Planning for the event began when New Orleans was selected as the game site back in 2020, and it will require the full gamut of security resources available, from chemical to biological to radiological resources, according to Jonathan Wackrow, a CNN contributor and former US Secret Service agent.
Some presidential history: Former President George H.W. Bush performed the traditional Super Bowl coin toss after leaving office in 2002 and again in 2017.
And then-President Ronald Reagan performed a coin toss “via satellite from the Oval Office” in 1985, according to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Still, it won’t be Trump’s first turn at a major championship sporting event; he attended Game 5 of the World Series in 2019 as the hometown Washington Nationals took on the Houston Astros.
Super Bowl LIX marks a record-tying 11th Super Bowl for New Orleans, bringing it equal to Miami for the most times hosting the big game.
It’s been more than 10 years since The Big Easy hosted the big game and Steve Farago, NFL director of live event operations, said Sunday’s game is the culmination of two years of work.
“It’s been quite a planning process. We started planning, putting the operational plans together over two years ago, and myself and our core team actually landed in New Orleans in early January, so we’ve already been here a month, building what you see both inside the stadium and outside the stadium,” he said. “The Super Bowl has grown over the last 10 years since it was here last in New Orleans, both in coverage, and in our physical presence in and around the city and the stadium.”
As part of the preparation, the Caesars Superdome has undergone a massive amount of renovations.
“The team here and the (New Orleans) Saints have done a great job really enhancing the fan experience from expanded concourses, upgraded suites and club areas, and just better views of the field,” he said.
