America's Super Bowl - The most successful show in the history of Television - Kansas City Chiefs end 50 year drought

For those of you around the world not exposed to the Super Bowl in America, it is the only TV program that could possibly knock the Trump impeachment trial, Democratic Presidential primary, and those lying news media off the air for a day.

A lot of fun and fascinating facts follow but here are some teasers.  With a television audience between 100 million and 193 million, mostly Americans and American troops throughout the world, it is the biggest show in television history and this is the 54th year.  For the past five years it has pulled over 100 million viewers per year.

The Super Bowl halftime show is the largest live concert in the world and a gold mine for invited artists.  This year Shakira and Jennifer Lopez dazzled.

It was the favorite San Francisco 49ers against the Kansas City Chiefs who have not won the Super Bowl in fifty long years.  The Chiefs were trailing 20-10 with about seven minutes left in the game when the Chiefs stunned the nation with 21 straight points in little over 5 minutes to win 31-20.

The fact the favorites and losers were from Nancy Pelosi's home in San Francisco, and the Chiefs are from the American heartland where Trump has substantial support, probably gives Trump more talking points.

The Senate impeachment trial of Trump drew about 7 million viewers on a good day so you can see how the Super Bowl, with at least 14 times more viewers, might explain why Trump will be acquitted this Wednesday, yet another a crushing defeat for the Democrats and news media.

Super Bowl 2020 Data. Some 193.8 million adults in the US plan to watch Super Bowl 54 per a survey of more than 7,200 US adults from NRF. That's upwards of 11 million more viewers than last year's projected viewership of 188.5 million.

Here is what the UK had to say about this amazing American spectacle.

UK View of Super Bowl

Cultura Colectiva

The Super Bowl In Numbers: Crazy Facts About The Big Game

By: Oliver G. Alvar

January 23, 2020

As one of the most-watched annual games in the world and a billion-dollar brand, the Super Bowl consistently gives us record-shattering numbers every year. Here are the craziest facts about The Big Game.

Who doesn’t love Super Bowl Sunday? The anticipation of a winning team rushing through the field after a victorious touchdown, the excitement of all those play-by-play analyses and strategies that could turn a close match into a steamrolling of epic proportions. Anything can happen, nothing is written—and we all love it.

So, the fact that The Big Game is such a commercially successful event comes as no surprise, does it? As a record-shattering event, the Super Bowl provides astonishing numbers every year, some of which might tell us more about American culture than we’re comfortable accepting. Indeed, Super Bowl Sunday is one of those days that provide a strong argument for the idea that Americans are the biggest consumerists in the world. That’s a double-edged sword.

Regardless of what it means, however, here’s how the Super Bowl looks—in numbers. Read on to find 7 crazy facts about the big game.

It's the second-largest day for food consumption in the US.

Think about all the beer, hot dogs, and hamburgers consumed during that Sunday. The Big Game accounts for most food-consumption in America during a single day, right behind Thanksgiving. That’s a ridiculous amount of food!

It's second only to the UEFA Champions League final as the most-watched annual sporting event worldwide.

And that’s even crazier when you consider the UEFA Champions League Final is watched by many countries worldwide, whereas the vast majority of the Super Bowl’s audience comes from a single nation. That’s a lot of Americans watching a single game!

It's frequently the most-watched American television broadcast of the year.

The Super Bowl broke records in 2015 with an average TV-audience of 114.4 million viewers, and it hasn’t gone below the 100 million-viewers mark since 2009. 

Its commercial spots are among the most expensive in the world.

The 2017 Super Bowl had an advertising revenue of around 419 million dollars. An average 30-second ad-spot costs around 5 million dollars since 2016, and not less than 2 million since the turn of the century!

Each American spends over $80 during Super Bowl Sunday.

On average, each American consumer plans to spend around 82 dollars on snacks, drinks, television, team apparel, accessories, decorations, furniture, and any other number of things for Super Bowl Sunday. This average includes betting. In 2017, about 138 million dollars worth of bets were placed at casinos across Nevada.

All those crazy figures and record-shattering in spite of the Super Bowl being mainly for American audiences. After all, Super Bowl Sunday is so popular in the US, it’s basically become an unofficial national holiday, which just goes to show America is the most consumer-based society in the world. But hey, as long as it’s all about football, I guess it’s fine

BBC

The Super Bowl is back this weekend with all the razzmatazz, build-up and big money that goes with it. And that's before there's even been a touchdown!

This is the 54th edition of the Bowl, with Kansas City Chiefs taking on the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. The NFL's biggest event is being held Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida.

The 65,326-capacity stadium will host the event for the sixth time in 31 years. That's some big numbers already... So here are some more!

San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan will lead his side in Miami on Sunday, hoping to reproduce the success of his dad, Mike.

Mike coached in four Super Bowls as an assistant, before leading the Denver Broncos to back-to-back titles over 20 years ago in the late 1990s.

No pressure, Kyle!

22.81 miles per hour

If you could make a noise for how fast Kansas City Chiefs player Tyreek Hill is, it would be "vroooom!" Luckily there are more scientific ways of measuring speed - the Chiefs receiver clocked in at 22.81mph in December against the Los Angeles Chargers. That's faster than the speed limit for some streets in the UK!

In the interest of fairness, in a close second, 21.87mph is the top speed of 49ers running back Raheem Mostert.

Happy 43rd birthday Shakira!

The Super Bowl halftime show is a big deal and this year Shakira will be performing on her 43rd birthday!

She'll be joined by Jennifer Lopez, as the other confirmed artist.

The halftime show attracts a huge TV audience, sometimes more people watch that than the game itself.

The most-watched halftime show was 2015 when Katy Perry's performance attracted 118.5 million viewers, while the game itself drew an average audience of 114.4 million viewers.

50 year wait

Kansas City Chiefs fans have waited a long time for this! It's 50 years since the Chiefs were last in the Super Bowl, that's before Shakira was born! At the time they beat the Minnesota Vikings in New Orleans.

Kansas also appeared in the first Super Bowl in 1967, losing to the Green Bay Packers.

$5.6 million

Half time is such a big deal at the Super Bowl and with millions of people watching, 30-second advert slots cost $5.6 (£4.2m) million, each! The cost of all the adverts put together is roughly $400 (£303) million!

Facebook and US president Donald Trump are among those expected to air commercials.

OVER ONE BILLION CHICKEN WINGS!

Yes, that's a lot of chicken!

Super Bowl fans are expected to eat 1.4 billion wings on Sunday.

To put that into perspective: The weight of those wings (75.4 million kilograms) is more than 300 times the combined weight of all 32 NFL teams.

More Super Bowl Facts

So you got this far but you're still confused about what the Super Bowl actually is, don't worry we have the answers.

If your mates are big American football fans, hopefully we can help you to at least understand some of what they're talking about on Monday morning.

And if you're new to American football or just want a reminder you can find all of the rules of the game here!

UK Halftime Show???

What is the Super Bowl?

It's the final game of the National Football League (NFL) season in the United States and is one of the biggest sporting events on the planet.

The NFL is what all American football teams are part of.

The winners of the Super Bowl are crowned 'World Champions' and get to lift the Vince Lombardi trophy.

This year it's the 54th Super Bowl.

50 years ago Chiefs last won

How long does the game take?

The game is meant to last an hour with four 15 minute quarters.

It can take much longer though because of the half-time show and all the ad breaks.

This is why snacks are a big part of fans' Super Bowl parties!

Most people do not want to see the game, just highlights, but want to see the halftime show so here is the full performance by Shakira and Lopez.

Can the Big Tuna Save the New Orleans Saints?

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Will Bill Parcells help out former assistant and Saints?

When the NFL decided to punish head coach Sean Peyton for not stopping the "bounty" program of injuring opposing players by suspending the coach for the next year they probably did not consider one potential consequence.

Today it became clear Parcells is in talks to take over as head coach for the next year while Peyton is suspended.  What would that mean for the Saints?

They would be trading in an assistant for the master and mentor.

The New Jersey native Parcells is one of the greatest coaches in NFL history leading the New York Giants to two Super Bowl wins, taking the New England Patriots to the Super Bowl, and winning the AFC championship with the New York Jets.  

The Big Tuna as he was affectionately known in Jersey when I was there and got to meet him at Giants stadium was AP Coach of the Year twice and is the only coach to take four different teams into the playoffs.  It appears he may want to make that five.

In addition to being a future Hall of Fame Coach, he was a lock this year if he stays retired, his real legacy is how many of his assistants went on to become top coaches.  Three have won Super Bowls themselves for the Patriots, Jets and Saints.  Look at a partial list of the Parcell's disciples.

Bill Belichick, New England Patriots

Tom Coughlin, New York Giants

Sean Payton, New Orleans Saints

Romeo Crennel, Cleveland Brown

Eric Mangini, New York Jets

Al Groh, University of Virginia

Charlie Weis, University of Notre Dame

Nick Saban, University of Alabama

In his most recent stint as an NFL head coach, Parcells helped rebuild the famed Dallas Cowboys franchise, leading the team to two playoffs appearances (2003 and 2006) and compiling a 34-32 record in four seasons, becoming the first head coach in NFL history to lead four different teams to the playoffs. He stepped down in January 2006 after leading Dallas to a Wild Card playoff berth – the team’s last postseason appearance.

What a legacy coaching some of the top franchises in NFL history, New York Giants, New England Patriots, Dallas Cowboys and New York Jets.

If the Saints can recruit Parcells there could be yet another Super Bowl ring and NFL championship in his already impressive resume.  Now what about the Saints being punished by having to suspend their head coach for a year?  Leave it to the Saints to land a Big Tuna for a savior.
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Super Bowl or Social Blabfest - You Decide!

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The day after the Super Bowl is usually dominated by following the MVP to Disneyland and the David Letterman Show followed by a ticker tape parade through the Canyon of Legends in New York City.

This year was a classic battle of strength between gladiators and cunning between rival coaches, both of whom were out of the New York Giants organization and destined for the NFL Hall of Fame.

So what happened?  The Internet social network overwhelmed the Main Street and Lame Street media and drop kicked  the follow up stories about the game through the goal posts. Instead, Face Book and Twitter ruled the next 24 hours and we are still feeling the lingering impact 48 hours later.

What football game Super Bowl Sunday?  According to the Viral Jabbernet the Super Bowl was really the Social Bawl where people, millions of people, trashed about every trivial aspect of the event having nothing to do with anything.

Madonna lip-synching?  Gisele's lips moving?  Clint Eastwood endorsing Barack Obama?

Come on, I'm a Giants fan and watched the game and none of those three dominant game topics of our Internet social network bothered me.  I was interested in the terrific game between great rivals and the uncanny ability of New York teams to win the big ones, even when not the favorite.

Young Madonna

As for Madonna, she fought her way to the top of the pop world and people could always dance to her music.  I thought her show was great entertainment.  Now some of my friends in the music business pointed out some technical problems but they were things I didn't notice. I was focused on the game.

Madonna today

And Gisele, well I had heard about Gisele Bundchen as a model and just vaguely in the far corners of my memory banks I thought I had heard something about Tom Brady and a supermodel but I never put the two together.

I thought her pre-game prayer Tweet thing was kind of refreshing.  Asking her circle of friends to pray for her husband when he was going to go out and be beat up by the best, meanest and strongest linemen in the world seemed a good idea.

So after the game some Giants fans are hassling her, and no one is better than New York and New Jersey Giants fans at heckling, and she shots off a four letter word while defending her husband saying "he can't throw the @#@#ing ball and catch it."

Are you kidding?  She was dead right.  The Patriots receivers dropped four critical passes, including two huge gains on the last drive to try and win.  And how many men in America wouldn't be thrilled to have one of the world's most popular supermodels as their wife and come to their defense after such a stressful game.  What WAS wrong was someone eavesdropping on her private life and recording her private conversation on a cell phone, then posting it on the Internet.

The Internet is a great tool but it is also the greatest assault on the right to privacy in the history of the world.

Finally, we come to one of my favorite movie actors and courageous movie directors, Clint Eastwood.  The Quiet Man in the saddle did a Super Bowl ad for the City of Detroit about how the city was halfway recovered from the recession thanks to the recovery of the Detroit auto industry.

Before the next commercial started the viral airways were filled with Tweets about how Clint Eastwood, a well known and respected Republican supporter and office holder, a mayor, was suddenly backing President Obama.  Of course that was not said in the ad, just in the subconscious minds of the media manipulators.

Today Clint came out and said it was nonsense, he has no intention of supporting President Obama.  And he had every right to support the auto industry recovery and Detroit.  Damn right Dirty Harry!

In the end, maybe the tweeters had it right.  Just look at this Reuters news story after the Super Bowl.

(Reuters) - Quarterback Eli Manning and his New York Giants may have beaten superstar Tom Brady and the New England Patriots at Sunday's Super Bowl, but none them could outmuscle Madonna -- at least, where TV audiences were concerned.

A record 111.3 million U.S. viewers watched the Giants defeat the Patriots in the professional football championship, but 114 million watched the halftime performance by Madonna that drew mostly mixed reviews and a firestorm of controversy over a rude gesture by rapper M.I.A.

Ratings tracker Nielsen on Monday said the Super Bowl on the NBC network was the most-watched TV program in U.S. history, eclipsing the 111.0 million who watched 2011's game. An extra three million tuned in for Madonna's glitzy, Cleopatra-themed performance, giving the Material Girl the distinction of having the most-watched Super Bowl halftime show ever.

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Madonna's Super Bowl Show

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I commented on the incredible difficulty of staging a show like Madonna did at the Super Bowl and the pressure of performing before 111 Americans live.  Even watching the show did not allow the time or the close ups nencessary to see the massive scope of the production.

For that reason we are presenting a series of photos highlighting various elements of the production.  It givews you a much better understanding of the process.

In addition, as for the controversy about whether she sang live or lip-synched, perhaps there was a little of both.  For certain there was use of a backing track which can compliment a live performance but it is rather standard in concerts and still allows the lead singing.

In earlier TV intereviews she insisted she would be singing live at the Super Bowl so the backing track would seem to allow that to happen.

No matter what, for a 53 year old to perform for just 13 minutes in a program full of such energy and physical movement, it was quite a production.

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New York Giants win 4th Super Bowl

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Giants edge Patriots 21-17 in Super Thriller.

Eli Manning led the New York Giants to a last minute victory for the 7th time ths season, and this was for all the marbles. In a stunning conclusion to a rather erratic season, the younger Manning proved his birthright to a family of champions.

 At the same time Tom Couglin, the sof spoken coach of the Giants, won his 2nd Super Bowl over long time friend and coaching rival Bill Belichek. Both were assistant coaches under Bill Parcells at the New York Giants.

 Thrilling, unpredictable and played with great intensity, it was a game to remember.

 Another favorite, Madonna, played the halftime show and put on a great production in the most difficult of all venues. With only 15 minutes to set up and dismantle a major production, and no sound checks before the concert, Madonna still pulled off one of her best performances for an audiience estimated to be around 111 million in the USA and untold millions more around the world.

 By the way, I picked the Giants to win by 3. They won by 4.
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