Your Complete Guide to Caring About Super Bowl LIV

NFL

What Have We Here? Super Bowl LIV, the NFL’s championship game for the 2019 season, is played Feb. 2 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. Kickoff is at 6:30pm ET.

What’s LIV In Regular Numbers? 54. The NFL just celebrated its 100th season, but almost half of those seasons don’t seem to matter since they predate the Super Bowl era. Only your old Uncle Dave from Akron cares that the Cleveland Browns won four NFL championships from 1950-64.

Is It On TV? Yes. After more than seven hours of pregame hype, FOX will broadcast the game with play-by-play man Joe Buck and analyst Troy Aikman, who was the starting quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys when they won their most recent Super Bowl 24 years ago.

How Many People Watch It? Last year’s boring Super Bowl was watched by 98.2 million people, the fewest number since 97.5 million tuned in to see David Tyree’s legendary helmet catch in Super Bowl XLII in 2008. That’s still good enough to be the 12th most watched U.S. TV broadcast in terms of average viewership.

Feeling lucky? The Super Bowl is big for bettors, as they can wager on everything from the coin toss to the color of Gatorade that gets dumped on the winning coach. The American Gaming Association estimated that 22.7 million American adults legally and illegally bet a total of nearly $6 billion on Super Bowl LIII.

Who’s Singing The National Anthem? Demi Lovato (Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam) sings “The Star Spangled Banner,” and you can make all kinds of crazy prop bets on that, too.

Who’s Performing At Halftime? Shakira will be shakin’ it on the field with Jennifer Lopez, who is, as of presstime, still Jenny From the Block. Shakira turns 43 on Super Bowl Sunday, so we wish a happy birthday to the only Colombian pop star most Americans have ever heard of.

What Should We Buy? Brands making their Super Bowl ad debuts include Facebook, Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts, Sabra and Porsche. WeatherTech, TurboTax, Pringles, Kia, Hyundai, Coca-Cola, Anheuser-Busch and Avocados From Mexico are among the returning advertisers. You’ll probably have watched a lot of these ads online before the game, but try to act surprised when they air on TV. FOX scored around $5.6 million for a 30-second commercial.

Is There Football? Yes. Among the many hours of pregame hype and analysis on Sunday, there will be about 11 minutes of actual football game play. The AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs are playing in their first Super Bowl in 50 years. They’ll take on the NFC champion San Francisco 49ers. We’re just happy there’s not a fourth straight Bill Belichick Super Bowl.

What’s On After? Season 3 of The Masked Singer helps us move on with our lives. Former Dancing With the Stars contestants will dress up as Frog, Robot, Banana, Miss Monster, Llama, Mouse and others to sing and dance for Jenny McCarthy’s amusement.

About Ryan Berenz 2166 Articles
Member of the Television Critics Association. Charter member of the Ancient and Mystic Society of No Homers. Squire of the Ancient & Benevolent Order of the Lynx, Lodge 49, Long Beach, Calif. Costco Wholesale Gold Star Member since 2011.