NEW ORLEANS — John Madden once said the biggest gap in sports was the difference between the winner and loser of the Super Bowl. And if you were comparing all of America’s most grandiose sports spectacles, the biggest gap is the one that exists between Super Bowl supremacy and anything else with the audacity to try and come close.
Sting called it “Americana at its most kitsch.” Paul McCartney once remarked, “There’s nothing bigger than being asked to perform at the Super Bowl.” Legendary New York ad executive Jerry Della Femina — the inspiration for the alpha-chauvinistic television drama “Mad Men” — dubbed it “Judgment Day,” adding “[P]oliticians have Election Day and Hollywood has the Oscars. Advertising has the Super Bowl.” Before the Nielsen ratings system existed, the most watched television show in the history of the planet was believed to be the Apollo 11 moon landing.
Now? The top 10 shows in history — and 19 of the top 20 — are all Super Bowls. And the NFL’s pie-in-the-sky hope is that Sunday can somehow break last year’s mammoth all-time record of 123.4 million average viewers. But that may take some serious hype and maybe even a little luck, with last year’s Super Bowl breaking the previous season’s record by a staggering 7.4 percent.
That number was helped in part by simulcasts on streaming platforms, but the biggest boost was that the game between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers went to overtime — giving the Super Bowl broadcasts an extra timeframe to draw in a larger audience. That said, a league source told Yahoo Sports this week that while the NFL has been conservative about projecting the possible size of Sunday’s audience (partially due to last season’s unexpected surprise spike in viewership), there’s an undercurrent of excitement over Fox’s decision to push the Super Bowl in 4K on its free (but ad supported) streaming channel Tubi, which has more than 97 million monthly active users.
“If there’s a new [viewership] record, [Tubi] will probably have a lot to do with it,” the source said. “I think there are some people [in the league office] that are eager to see how that goes and what can be taken away from it. I imagine there is some anticipation at Fox, too.”
The source added that executives at NBC will be watching closely and “hoping for a monster” viewership number, since it has next year’s main Super Bowl broadcast and will be dialing in advertising rates with the momentum coming out of this one.
“All around, this is going to be interesting when it comes to ratings for a number of reasons,” the league source said, adding that the league’s view that its media rights are currently “undervalued” would continue to be supported by Super Bowl viewership climbing yet again.
With that in mind, it will be interesting to see how Super Bowl LIX ultimately draws people in beyond just the football game. It’s already clear the spectacle is going to have no shortage of intersecting — and maybe some clashing — curiosities. Among them …
Donald Trump’s attendance
Trump’s decision to become the first sitting U.S. President in history to attend a Super Bowl has generated headlines since the moment it was announced earlier this week. Since trading some jabs with Trump during his last administration, the league office and team owners have tried to balance stances on social awareness and justice while also keeping from getting pulled back into the political swamp that mired the league in controversy over national anthem protests. Interestingly, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said Monday the league would continue to pursue diversity efforts when it comes to its hiring practices, a message that runs counter to the anti-DEI stance Trump has taken since returning to the White House.
But after Goodell made that declaration, the league unexpectedly moved to change one of its end zone messages — from “end racism” to “choose love” — after Trump’s attendance at the game was announced. That change raised some eyebrows, despite the league’s explanation that it wanted to pursue a more “uplifting” message, rather than the “end racism” message that had been in one of the Super Bowl end zones since 2021. At the very least, the alteration has brought more attention to how the league will handle a Trump-driven spotlight, which is what he will be bringing to the game on Sunday. Right now, nobody is sure what Trump’s attendance will look like or what part he might play in pregame or postgame moments. And that’s something that will add intrigue to the broadcast of the game.
Taylor Swift’s attendance
The flip side of Trump’s attendance at the game will be Swift’s presence, as she’s expected to once again cheer on Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce from a Super Bowl skybox. That relationship even has its own prop bets at various sports books, including whether there will be a post-Super Bowl kiss or even a marriage proposal. That will draw in plenty of Swift fans once again, while renewing the annoyance of fans who’d rather just watch the football and not hear about it. Either way, it’s going to be a part of Sunday, along with the awkwardness of Swift having endorsed Trump’s counterpart in the election, Kamala Harris. Surely there will be no shortage of Swift and Trump camera shots on the broadcast.
Will Kendrick Lamar perform ‘Not Like Us?’
The chart-dominating California rapper is at the height of his popularity and his selection as the halftime artist created immense buzz around the game. But it also has brought the intriguing question of whether he’ll perform his hit diss track “Not Like Us,” which trounced Drake in a rap feud, sparked a defamation suit from the artist and was even adopted by some Democratic politicians in rallies leading up to the presidential election. Did we mention Trump is going to be in attendance for this performance? As it stands, nobody knows whether or not the song will make an appearance during Lamar’s halftime show, let alone how he’ll handle most of the lyrics, which would not survive a broadcast without being muted at some point. Asked this week if he was preparing to play the song, Lamar navigated around the question. Again, this is the kind of thing that draws in a viewing audience.
Tom Brady, a potential Chiefs three-peat, officiating conspiracies, wild Eagles fans and more…
Last but not least, there’s dozens of other storylines that will be threaded throughout Sunday’s broadcast. There’s the city of New Orleans still coming to terms with the terrorist attack during the College Football Playoff, with victims who are likely to be honored in some way during Sunday’s game. It’ll most likely happen during the broadcast or prior to the national anthem, a broadcast that, lest we forget, will be Tom Brady’s first Super Bowl appearance for Fox.
Again, the Q-Rating of these names: Trump, Swift, Kendrick Lamar, Tom Brady — all in the same building in one night. That’s … a lot. I’m not sure you could jam more police, Secret Service and private security details into one place at one time. Not to mention whoever is guarding the $360 million yacht of Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan, which has become an attraction unto itself this week. If anything, the Superdome should be about as secure as any place on the planet while also hosting over 74,000 fans, two football franchises, and hundreds of media members.
At some point, we get to the actual game itself, which has no shortage of hype — partially in favor of a Chiefs team that is going for an unprecedented third straight Super Bowl win, but also facing a majority of general NFL fans who have turned Kansas City into football villains because of that success. Flush with conspiracies over NFL officiating that ate up a portion of commissioner Roger Goodell’s press conference on Monday, the issue became a popular vein of questions for Chiefs players. That’s somewhat buffered by an Eagles fan base that is thirsty for revenge after Philadelphia lost this same matchup in the Super Bowl matchup just two years ago.
If all of that is not enough to draw in another record-breaking audience on the broadcast, maybe nothing will. It’s a spectacle that aims to entertain as many as 125 million viewers — both on the field and off. And in that respect, Sunday’s Super Bowl should come and go with more winners than losers, regardless of the final score.
