Americans get ready to watch the Super Bowl game Sunday (13/2). This is the final game of the nationally celebrated US National Football League season. From Los Angeles Mike O’Sullivan reports where the Los Angeles Rams will face the Cincinnati Bengals in a sporting event as well as an entertainment party.
The two US soccer teams are warming up and the SoFi stadium that just opened a year and a half ago in Inglewood, Los Angeles will welcome some 70,000 fans.
Officials said spectators in attendance had to meet the requirements for vaccination, testing for COVID-19 and wearing masks. Outdoor venues are getting ready to welcome the Super Bowl (grand finale match) party, also with strict restrictions on the corona virus. Tens of millions of people are estimated to be watching from their homes on television.
A sports expert from a nearby university stated that everyone, sports fans or not, is also looking forward to the Super Bowl event that is typical of Uncle Sam’s country.
Jeff Fellenzer teaches sports and business at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism says, “In the United States, it’s practically a national holiday. The big celebration is not just a sport of football, but is now an entertainment event.”
Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar are scheduled to appear in the Super Bowl halftime show. However, that’s not all to look forward to. In addition to the competing teams, Super Bowl commercials stole the audience’s attention, Jeff explained.
Creative ads are not inferior to Hollywood productions, according to Robert Kolt, associate professor of advertising and public relations at Michigan State University.
“For the advertising industry, Sunday’s Super Bowl is like Oscar night for the film industry. This is the biggest night of the year. We’ll see the best commercials on Super Bowl Sunday,” he said.
And the most expensive is shown on the most watched program on American television, said Jeanine Poggi, editor at Advertising Age.
“This year, the cost of advertising 30 seconds of airtime at the Super Bowl can reach 7 million dollars (or around 100 billion Rupiah),” said Jeanine.
Those ads including production and screening costs can be more expensive than some full-length films. Robert Kolt of Michigan State University estimates the cost of producing a two-minute Super Bowl break ad could be as high as $25 million and another million dollars in merchandising that keeps customs officials busy sorting out counterfeits.
For fans, this football match was watched with family and friends, and for those who bought tickets costing thousands of dollars watched the game live from the stadium. For Los Angeles, hosting the Super Bowl is very important, said Serena Williams, a tennis star who grew up in the area.
“This Super Bowl is huge for the people of Los Angeles. It means a lot to everyone and obviously the LA Rams are in it. Who would have thought that could happen?” said Serena.
The Los Angeles Rams last played in the Super Bowl in 2019, when they lost against the New England Patriots in a game in Atlanta. While the Cincinnati Bengals haven’t made it to the Super Bowl since the 1980s, that struggle on the US soccer field is only part of the Super Bowl Sunday attraction. [mg/lt]