Super Bowl 2017

February 3rd, 2017

What is the Super Bowl?

The Superbowl is the winner-takes-all final of the American Football league (NFL). This year the New England Patriots take on the Atlanta Falcons in Houston, Texas on February 5 at 18:30 ET. Details of how to watch it around the world are here.

Before 1967, there were two rival leagues in American football - the NFL and the AFL. They agreed to merge and the first Super Bowl was played in 1967 between the winners of the two leagues. Now the top level of the game is split into two conferences who play league games throughout the season, with the winners of each conference competing in the Super Bowl. This will be the 51st championship game - or "Superbowl LI", as it is customarily referred to by roman numerals.

The Half-Time Show

Image Source: Huntley Paton Creative Commons 2.0

Almost as anticipated as the game itself is the halftime show, where top music performers go all out in the most watched musical performance of the year. Beyonce, Prince, Coldplay, and Bruce Springsteen have appeared in the past and this year Lady Gaga will headline, after she sang the national anthem before the game last year. No stranger to controversy, many will tune in to see just what she will do.

Don't skip the ads!

Even the TV adverts which run during the game are highly anticipated. Brands pay up to $ 5 million per ad slot according to Variety and this is before the cost of making the ad, which with high production values and the appearance of top stars can bring the costs up to $10 million. However, for them it often pays off. While it is common for people to try to skip ads or ignore them,during the Super Bowl advertisers know they have a captive audience who are keen to see who is going to advertise and how - this year there may even be a live ad.

Super What?

Almost 112 million people in the United States tuned in last year, and the event dominates the media over the Super Bowl weekend there. But what about in the rest of the world? Psiphon Today spoke to Psiphon users in China, Turkey and Canada and asked if they’d be tuning in where they were from.

Psiphon user (China): the Super Bowl is not really important in China. People may have heard about it, however since Chinese people do not have interests in football, people don’t watch it at all. Soccer and basketball would be the most popular sporting events in China. Usually, people will watch NBA games every year. Soccer is more special and China has it’s own soccer game within the country. Chinese people also watch foreign soccer games such as the European Football Championship and World Cup.

Mark (Canada): The Superbowl is a pretty significant event in Canada (population around 35 million), with last year's festivities (and football game) averaging 8.3 million throughout the game, and peaking at 10.3 million during the half-time show (according to Bell Media). More anecdotally, nearly everyone I know gets together with at least few people for the Superbowl, whether its to watch the championship game of the NFL, discuss the American commercials, the half-time show, or just an excuse to see friends, its a pretty big deal! First and foremost, we love our hockey! If there is a Winter Olympic Games happening, Team Canada hockey (especially gold medal games) are the biggest sporting events. In 2010, when the Olympics were hosted in British Columbia, Canada, Canada's gold medal game had an average viewership of 16 million.

Toronto is also in the unique position of being the home of the only Canadian MLB (Blue Jays) and NBA (Raptors) franchises, generating broad national interest during the playoff runs both teams have made over the last few seasons.

Devrim (Turkey):The Super Bowl is quite unknown in Turkey - American football is not a very popular sport. Soccer is the most played and watched sport. The UEFA European Championship and FIFA World Cup are the two most watched events. People get together at their homes or bars/cafés and watch these events together, especially if there are Turkish teams competing. There are always large celebrations in the streets after every match a Turkish team wins.

Ben Sutherland, Sports Editor, BBC World Service (UK): A colleague who has gone to cover the Superbowl sent a group email earlier today that said "I know this would automatically go into your deleted items, but please stick with it..." which shows how much of a niche event the Superbowl is even amongst sports specialists. American football is undoubtedly a specialist subject in the UK - but still, for the dedicated few who stay up very late, it's a kind of bonding experience. Marvel at the talent and Tweet about the show. It's a little like the Oscars in that respect, and with just about the same amount of padding

The equivalent in England is the FA Cup (although strictly speaking the winner-of-something-plays-winner-of-something-else format is actually the Community Shield, but even the players don't care about that). The FA Cup is regrettably renowned for producing a) dull finals and b) denying romantics at the last hurdle. Brighton And Hove Albion in 1983; Middlesbrough in 1997; Millwall in 2004; Hull City in 2014; Aston Villa in 2015 - the list goes on and on of lesser teams who have had amazing, wonderful cup runs only to get miserably thrashed by a Top 6 Heavyweight come the Final. At least the Superbowl is genuinely unpredictable...