The biggest event in American sports kicks off Sunday as the New England Patriots take on the Seattle Seahawks at a Super Bowl tinged by controversy over Bad Bunny’s half-time show.
More than 120 million Americans are expected to tune in for an annual pop culture nonpareil, which this year features two teams nobody expected to reach the NFL championship decider.
The Seahawks, boasting the league’s best defense, are the marginal favorites. But they come up against a Patriots team who know how to win. New England is seeking a record seventh Lombardi Trophy, and its first since the departure of Tom Brady, widely considered the NFL’s greatest ever player. It is, according to bookmakers, the unlikeliest Super Bowl match-up of modern times. Both teams began the season with odds of 60-1 or worse to go all the way. “We’re in great shape. Guys are in good spirits,” said Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald, after Seattle’s final practice Saturday. “Finally. It’s taken a while to get here. But it’s here. It’s awesome.”
Away from the sporting contest, all eyes will be on a historic half-time performance from Bad Bunny, the Grammy-winning Puerto Rican superstar. He is expected to deliver the first-ever Super Bowl set sung entirely in Spanish. One of the world’s biggest artists, Bad Bunny has been a vocal critic of Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Speculation is rife that he could use the giant Super Bowl platform to double down.
The US president has claimed the performance will “sow hatred” and is not attending this year’s game. The Super Bowl kicks off at 3:30pm local time (2330 GMT) at the 75,000-capacity Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. A franchise once so dominant they were dubbed the “Evil Empire,” New England have floundered since Brady left in 2020, but they have been reborn this season under coach of the year Mike Vrabel.