What is it about ? A major sports final broadcast live and on mondovision? A half time show where the biggest stars of popular music gather for a little less than a quarter of an hour? Of a social event during which the first world power only has eyes for helmeted colossi? A bit of all that.
In the United States, the Super Bowl, the final of the American football championship, is the most watched sporting event on television. It is also, to a lesser extent, a global television event since many countries, usually little interested in American football, pay a high price to broadcast this final and its side effects.
There are an estimated 200 million viewers worldwide, more than half of whom are in the United States. Last year, for the final played at State Farm Stadium in Glendale (Arizona) between the Kansas Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, the match attracted 115.1 million viewers in the United States.
Usher, star of the mi-temps
The audience peak did not take place during a phase of play, however spectacular it may be, but during half-time. That day, Rihanna, back after seven years of absence, ignited the stadium and tens of millions of fans stationed in front of a screen, joining in the legend of the Super Bowl the performances of Michael Jackson or Justin Timberlake, to never quote them.
Football, music, shows, the recipe is known. And year after year, the production system is perfected. This 2024 final will take place for the first time in Las Vegas (Nevada) in the brand new 65,000-seat Allegiant Stadium. It pits the defending champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, against the San Francisco 49ers. The technical means put in place are equivalent to those of a football World Cup final (not American): around fifty cameras, drones, helicopters, a Spidercam flying over the field…
After Rihanna, it’s the turn of Usher, famous R’n’B singer, to make the stadium vibrate during halftime. “It’s the honor of a lifetime to be able to sing at the Super Bowl,” he said. The fact that this final took place in Las Vegas turned heads even more than usual. The cheapest seats sold for $8,000 each, the most expensive for almost $58,000! Little tip for French fans present in Paris on Sunday evening: the Grand Rex is organizing a very festive Super Bowl night. With entry tickets available from 22 euros…
Distribution in France
In France, broadcasters are not fighting to broadcast US football. For fans, subscribing to the bouquet of the Franco-Qatari group BeIN Sports is essential because, since its arrival on the French market in 2012, the group has offered solid coverage of the NFL season, the National Football League, with broadcast games and weekly magazine (“NFL Extra”, Tuesday evening around 11 p.m.).
With a free channel (M6) and a paid channel (BeIN) to broadcast this 2024 final, French audiences could beat those of last year (270,000 on average, with a peak for Rihanna, at 421,000).
One question remains: will the famous companion of Travis Kelce, the star player of the Chiefs, be present, physically or via screen? In the middle of a world tour, Taylor Swift, since that’s who we’re talking about, is in concert in Tokyo on February 10… But the Japanese embassy in Washington assured, on February 2, in a tweet, that “If she leaves Tokyo the evening after her concert, she should easily arrive in Las Vegas before the start of the Super Bowl.”
