The Super Bowl is the American football final in which the winners of the Eastern Conference face the winners of the Western conference to claim the NFL Championship. The Super Bowl is preceded by the playoffs in which the best ranked teams in the regular season, face each other to reach the Super Bowl. As a result, the runner-up’s in the Super Bowl are “Conference Champions”, while the winners are “National Champions”.
This year’s Super Bowl surprised everyone as the seemingly invincible Kansas City Chiefs lost their shot at a historic 3-peat by losing against the Philadelphia Eagles 40-22, which in American football terms, is a great defeat. The Eagles got their sweet revenge from 2022 when they lost the title by 38-35 against the Chiefs; Jalen Hurts (Eagle’s quarterback) had his personal redemption against Patrick Mahomes (Chief’s quarterback) to which he came second in the 2022 MVP voting. Despite being clear favourites, the Chiefs were down 34-0 by the end of the 3rd quarter, proving why the Eagles are considered the best defensive team in the league.
The “Big Game” had a total audience of around 200 million, many of them “Swifties” (Taylor Swift fans) who tuned in to watch her boyfriend, Travis Kelce from the Chiefs, ending disappointed. The Super Bowl is synonymous with a big gathering, focused as much on the food as the sports, as the Swifties showcase. Not everyone is tuned in for the game, millions tuned in for the half-time show featuring Kendrick Lamar or the half-time ads. These 30-second ads were sold at $8 million each representing a large expense of each companies marketing budget and requiring months of planning.
At half time, the field completely transformed into a stage to host the 15-minute half time show. Europe still has a lot to learn from the US performance wise. The 22-time-Grammy-winning artist Kendrick Lamar’s half time show was characterised by his feud with the rapper Drake to which he dedicated the lyrics of “Not like us”, in which he referred to him as a pedophile amongst other things. Perhaps even more unexpectedly, his show featured famous tennis player Serena Williams jaywalking to his lyrics.
The game ended and the Eagles players were already wearing their Super Bowl Champions hats, but how is this possible? The NFL sends out hundreds of NFL champions apparel to retailers and teams ahead of the Super Bowl, so as the game ends the players and fans can wear their Super Bowl Champions gear.
But what happens to the losing team’s gear? This gear cannot be sold to the public and retailers are ordered to send it back to the NFL. Afterwards, the NFL sends these kits to charitable organisations for places such as Ukraine or Africa to guarantee that this gear is not resold or simply discarded. This initiative was designed to prevent the clothes from being resold at high prices whilst ensuring that the clothing go to the people that need them the most.
America’s greatest sport event of the year once again did not disappoint, and New Orleans proved to be a great host city. Super Bowl 59 has left a major question for the future: Will the Chiefs bounce back for Super Bowl 60 in Santa Clara, California?
Nico I, Year 12
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