The 57th Super Bowl will kick off on Sunday – here’s all you need to know to watch the biggest game of the NFL season.
Often filled with drama, performance, politics and showbiz – the culmination of the NFL (National Football League) season is back for another year this weekend.
With millions around the world set to tune in – here is everything you need to know about Super Bowl LVII.
So sit back, relax, grab your match-day snacks and prepare for a classic.
When is it and how can I watch?
Super Bowl LVII will be played at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, but you can cosy up in the comfort of your own home because it’s set to air on Sky Sports NFL (407) and Sky Sports Main Event (401) on Sunday, 12 February.
Coverage starts at 10pm (UK time), with kick-off in the big game at 11.30pm.
If you’re up late and on the move, you can also watch the show with Sky Go – online or on NOW TV, with the Sky Sports Day Pass.
Who’s playing?
A storm is brewing, with The Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs set to go head-to-head.
History in the making
This is what Sky News’s Alan McGuinness has to say about this year:
This year’s contest will see history made.
It’s the first time two black quarterbacks have faced off for the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
Patrick Mahomes has been here before.
The Chiefs QB will be playing in his third Super Bowl since becoming the team’s starter in 2018.
He led the Chiefs to their first Super Bowl in 50 years in 2020, but was on the losing side the following year.
The mercurial Mahomes is a dynamic playmaker who can burn defences through the air or on the ground.
With him under centre, the Chiefs are perennial Super Bowl contenders – this is their third appearance in four years. But Mahomes could be hampered by an ankle injury he sustained earlier in the playoffs.
Eagles QB Jalen Hurts is playing in his first Super Bowl in what is his second full season as the team’s starter.
The Eagles will be competing in the franchise’s fourth Super Bowl, with the team’s sole victory coming in 2018.
Both teams entered the playoffs as the number one seeds in their respective conferences, having both notched up 14-3 records in the regular season.
It means we should be in for an exciting game come Sunday.
Who will sing the national anthem?
The American football show is known for its showbiz magic and touch of patriotic symbolism.
The national anthem often marks the opening of the grand event and has been a tradition year after year.
This year, country singer, songwriter and guitarist Chris Stapleton will be taking the lead.
Stapleton has previously reached the top of the country charts and has won eight Grammy Awards, among many others.
Up next it’s the half-time show. Who’s performing?
This year it’s Rihanna who takes centre stage.
The Super Bowl is known for its exciting performances at half-time with the momentous event often a pinnacle in many artists’ careers.
Apple Music said: “It’s ON. Rihanna will take the stage for the first-ever Apple Music Super Bowl Half-time Show on 2.12.23.”
The Barbadian singer is known for her pop and R&B flow and is a worldwide sensation in the music scene. She is also known for the launch of her beauty and fashion lines, Fenty Beauty and Savage X Fenty.
Who’s played the iconic half-time show before?
The Super Bowl stage does not fall short of great performances over the years, from the Rolling Stones in 2006, to Madonna in 2012.
Here are some previous show-stopping moments that had crowds roaring.
Madonna in 2012
Beyonce, Coldplay and Bruno Mars in 2016
The Rolling Stones in 2006
Jennifer Lopez and Shakira in 2020
What about the ads?
Roughly 100 million people tune in to watch the Super Bowl each year – which makes it advertising’s biggest stage.
Big companies from Netflix to Google are paying as much as $7m for a 30-second spot.
In order to get as much as a return on investment for those millions, most advertisers release their ads in the days ahead of the big game to get the most publicity for their spots.
But what are ads without celebrity?
The Super Bowl makes headlines for the glitz and the glam as well as just the sport.
In the ads released so far, actor Miles Teller dances to customer-service hold music for Bud Light, Will Ferrell crashes popular Netflix shows like Bridgerton in a joint ad for GM and Netflix; and Alicia Silverstone reprises her Clueless character for online shopping site Rakuten.
Here’s who else we’ll see.
Melissa McCarthy stars in a musical number for Booking.com about her desire to go on a trip “somewhere, anywhere”.
Nick Jonas returns for the second year in an ad that highlight’s Dexcom’s glucose monitoring system.
Hellmann’s shows actors Jon Hamm and Brie Larson in a fridge with a jar of mayo. Get it?
Beer brand Michelob Ultra’s two ads are set at Bushwood Country Club, the fictional country club in Caddyshack, and star tennis great Serena Williams, actor Brian Cox, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, soccer player Alex Morgan and boxer Canelo Alvarez.
The Frito-Lay brand PopCorners recreates Breaking Bad with Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul – but this time the duo are cooking up the PopCorners snack in their RV instead of anything illicit.
Uber’s ad for its membership program Uber One shows hip hop mogul P Diddy working to create a hit song for Uber One. The ad features Montell Jordan (“This is How We Do It”), Kelis (“Milkshake”), Donna Lewis (“I Love You Always Forever”), Haddaway (“What is Love”) and Ylvis (“What Does the Fox Say”).
In the first Super Bowl ad from enterprise software company Workday, rock stars Ozzy Osbourne, Billy Idol, Joan Jett and others complain that office workers shouldn’t call each other rock stars.
And finally, who holds the most Super Bowl titles?
Coming out on top, The Patriots and Steelers are familiar with playing on the big stage. Here are the top wins from 1967 to 2022 according to Statista:
Pittsburgh Steelers: 6
New England Patriots: 6
San Francisco 49ers: 5
Dallas Cowboys: 5
New York Giants: 4
Green Bay Packers: 4
And that’s all you need to know for the big game – enjoy the match!
BBC presenter Lauren Laverne has said she has been given the “all clear” after being diagnosed with cancer.
The 46-year-old said in a post on social media that she will return to work next week on The One Show and has been working on new episodes of BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs.
She said she is set to also return to her 6 Music show in the new year.
She has not specified what type of cancer she had.
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Thanking medical staff, friends and all those who sent her get well wishes, Laverne said on Sunday she would most like to thank her husband Graeme and her two children, who she said have been “absolutely extraordinary throughout”.
“It’s been a difficult time but one that has taught me so much about what really matters,” she wrote.
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“I can’t say I suddenly regretted never having hiked the Inca Trail, more that I now see more beauty in ordinary things than I could have imagined, and feel more than ever that the small things in life – the connections we make and care we take with each other – are the big things really.”
A new episode of Desert Island Discs is due to air on 1 December, and will be a pre-recorded interview with comedian Mark Steel that is believed to have been done by Laverne before she went on leave.
She will return to record more episodes as well as Christmas editions of the series over the next few weeks.
A BBC spokeswoman said: “We’re delighted to welcome Lauren back to the studio this month for The One Show and Desert Island Discs, with new episodes airing on Radio 4 from 1 December, and we look forward to welcoming Lauren back to BBC Radio 6 Music in the new year.”
Zayn Malik paid tribute to former One Direction bandmate Liam Payne as he kicked off his solo tour.
Payne died last month of multiple traumas and “internal and external haemorrhage” after falling from a third-floor balcony in Buenos Aires, according to a post-mortem.
Images from Leeds’s O2 Academy on Saturday showed Malik – who delayed his Stairway To The Sky tour due to Payne’s funeral on Wednesday – shared a tribute.
A message was displayed with a heart on a large blue screen behind the singer reading: “Liam Payne 1993-2024. Love you bro.”
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Rapper Ye – formerly known as Kanye West – has been accused of sexual assault in a civil lawsuit that alleges he strangled a model on the set of a music video.
Warning: This story contains details that readers may find distressing
The lawsuit alleges the musician shoved his fingers in the claimant’s mouth at the Chelsea Hotel in New York City in 2010, in what it refers to as “pornographic gagging”, Sky News’ US partner network NBC News reported.
The model who brought the case – which was filed on Friday in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York – was a background actor for another musician’s music video that Ye was guest-starring in, NBC said, citing the lawsuit.
She is seeking compensatory and punitive damages against the 47-year-old.
A representative for Ye was approached for comment by NBC News on Saturday.
The New York City Police Department said it took “sexual assault and rape cases extremely seriously, and urges anyone who has been a victim to file a police report so we can perform a comprehensive investigation, and offer support and services to survivors”.
The lawsuit alleges that a few hours into the shoot, the rapper arrived on set, took over control and ordered “female background actors/models, including the claimant, to line up in the hallway”.
The rapper is then believed to have “evaluated their appearances, pointed to two of the women, and then commanded them to follow him”.
The lawsuit adds the claimant, who was said to be wearing “revealing lingerie”, was uncomfortable but went with Ye to a suite which had a sofa and a camera.
When in the room, Ye is said to have ordered the production team to start playing the music, to which he did not know his lyrics and instead rambled, “rawr, rawr, rawr”.
The lawsuit claims: “Defendant West then pulled two chairs near the camera, positioned them across from each other, and instructed the claimant to sit in the chair in front of the camera.”
While stood over the model, the lawsuit clams Ye strangled her with both hands, according to NBC.
It claims he went on to “emulate forced oral sex” with his hands, with the rapper allegedly screaming: “This is art. This is f****** art. I am like Picasso.”
Universal Music Group is also named in the lawsuit as a defendant and is accused of failing to investigate the incident.
The corporation did not immediately respond to a request for comment by NBC.
Jesse S Weinstein, a lawyer representing the claimant, said the woman “displayed great courage to speak out against some of the most powerful men and entities within the entertainment industry”.