Super Bowl, the big TV spectacle that Donald Trump doesn't like

BarcelonaOne of the biggest sporting and television events in the United States is the Super Bowl, the final of the National Football League (NFL), which features a spectacular halftime show every year. This year, Green Day and Bad Bunny will be entertaining the audience, and they just this week won the Grammy for best album of the year for I SHOULD TAKE MORE PHOTOSThe award, which he accepted with a speech in which he openly criticized Donald Trump's immigration policy, has caused a stir. The US president is not happy that both the Californian band and the Puerto Rican singer have spoken out against him and wanted to demonstrate his anger by not attending the game, which takes place on Sunday in San Francisco and pits the New England Patriots against the Seattle Seahawks.

Normally, the US president does not attend the Super Bowl, but last year Trump broke with this tradition and became the first occupant of the White House to be present at the final of the American football league in the competition's 59-year history. The game pitted the Philadelphia Eagles against the Kansas City Chiefs, the team of Travis Kelce, Taylor Swift's partner, who attended the game and has spoken out against Trump on more than one occasion. The US president framed the game as a popularity contest between himself and the pop singer. Swift was booed by some members of the audience, and Trump blamed the protest on his supporters and puffed out his chest. "MAGA [Make America great again"He doesn't forgive!" he said.

This year, with the United States in a highly charged atmosphere due to ICE raids and the murders of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good, the president has chosen to distance himself from the stars. He didn't even know who the stars were and that it was a terrible choice. "I think it's a terrible decision. All they do is sow hate. Terrible," he said. However, the president argues that his absence from the Super Bowl is not due to the singers' critical stance but because the game is played too far away.

While Trump plays the victim, his supporters have declared war on the Super Bowl and on Monday announced they are organizing a protest. Among the organizers are Turning Point USA, the organization co-founded by Charlie Kirk, and the singer Kid Rock. "We're working on this show like David versus Goliath. Competing against the machine of professional football and a global pop superstar is almost impossible... or is it?" the singer said in a statement Monday about the MAGA-backed show.

An audience-generating machine

Despite the potential boycott by Trump supporters, the Super Bowl broadcast is a well-oiled machine that consistently draws impressive ratings. In fact, viewership of both the game and the halftime show has grown significantly in recent years. According to Nielsen, the ratings agency that tracks viewership in the United States, 127.7 million viewers tuned in to the game last year, the highest viewership ever for a Super Bowl and a television broadcast. The 2025 audience was 3.2% higher than the previous record set in 2024. The selection of the musical star who performs at the Super Bowl is a joint decision between the NFL and Roc Nation, the company founded by Jay-Z that manages musical talent across various sectors, including sports. The selection of Bad Bunny is not so much related to his political discourse as to his ability to attract new audiences, specifically the Latino community. In November, Marissa Solis, senior vice president of global brand and consumer marketing for the NFL, explained to ESPN that they identified the Latino population in the United States as "a critical growth area" years ago. "It's a community of more than 70 million people in the United States, so it's very important for us to make sure we're relevant," she explained. In 2020, the Super Bowl already reached out to the community by choosing Shakira and Jennifer Lopez as guest performers. "[Bad Bunny] is one of the most popular artists on the planet. He illustrates our commitment to building meaningful connections between our fans, between generations, between cultures, and between continents," argued Jon Barker, senior vice president of the NFL, in a conversation with The Atlantic

The sports broadcast, which this year can be seen on NBC and Telemundo and the Peacock platform, has great commercial appeal, and advertising slots are always highly sought after. All advertising slots had already been sold by September, and a record figure of $10 million was reached for a single 30-second ad, according to the specialized media outlet. DeadlineThis major advertising showcase always features familiar faces, and this year will be no exception. Actress Emma Stone and director Yorgos Lanthimos will once again team up for a commercial for Squarespace, a website development company. Other celebrities who have lent their image to the ads airing on Sunday include singer Sabrina Carpenter, model Kendall Jenner, and actors such as Adrien Brody, George Clooney, Elijah Wood, and Elle Fanning. Ben Affleck, meanwhile, is teaming up again with Dunkin' Donuts and will star in an ad that also features Jennifer Aniston and Matt LeBlanc (of Friends) and Jason Alexander (of Seinfeld).