Who’s the guy next to Taylor Swift?: Look, you’re getting fit for the Super Bowl

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More than 100 million people around the world will watch the 58th Super Bowl on Monday evening. The hype, the big show and the action also fascinate people who otherwise have little to do with American football.

Blick explains what’s important about the sports highlight, who’s especially in the spotlight — and what fun fact you can brag about at any Super Bowl party.

In order not to be labeled as an amateur before kick-off, you need to know who actually made it to the final this year. The home team this time is the Kansas City Chiefs. The team has been the team to beat in the National Football League (NFL) for years. The Chiefs have already won the Super Bowl three times, most recently in 2020 and 2023. The team will wear red jerseys on Sunday.

On the other side are the San Francisco 49ers – also one of the most successful franchises in the league. However, the titles of “Niners” go back a while (1981, 1984, 1988, 1989, 1994). San Francisco is playing in white dresses this year.

Until the start of the play-offs, the division of roles seemed clear: the Chiefs actually had a botched regular season, rarely really got up to speed and had to work hard for wins. The Niners, on the other hand, repeatedly overwhelmed their opponents with their concentrated offensive power. At the crucial moment, Kansas City got going and that is why many expect a close game on Sunday. San Francisco is the slight favorite among bookmakers.

This year’s Super Bowl will take place at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, which opened in 2020. The modern sports and concert temple cost the equivalent of only 1.7 billion francs. The ‘Death Star’, as owner Mark Davis (68) likes to call the stadium, can accommodate 65,000 spectators. Actually too small for the mega-event, for which the NFL usually only considers stadiums with at least 70,000 seats. However, due to scheduling conflicts, New Orleans had to be canceled as the originally planned location.

The entertainment during the halftime of the game is almost as important as the Super Bowl itself. This year, Usher (45) is responsible for the really big show. Special: The R&B star can perform for a full fifteen minutes instead of the usual 13 minutes. By the way, no fee is ever charged for intermission acts at the Super Bowl. The performance, which is broadcast all over the world, is compensation enough.

In the past, anyone who was picked last by a team in gymnastics could usually be happy that at least every now and then he was noticed by his fellow players. Not so Brock Purdy (24). The quarterback named “Mr. Irrelevant” was selected in the draft by San Francisco, so he was previously ignored several times by all teams and ended up as the last pick of the 49ers. A Super Bowl victory with Purdy as a playmaker would be one of the biggest are success stories in sports.

His colleague Patrick Mahomes (28) took a different approach. In 2017 he was selected as the tenth player and immediately made an impression. Mahomes is already considered one of the best quarterbacks ever. A third personal final victory would strengthen his hero status.

When we talk about the Kansas City Chiefs this year, the name Taylor Swift (34) is not far away. The musician has been in a relationship with Chiefs player Travis Kelce (34) for several months. Since the couple first appeared in public together, there has been a real hype about them. Swift and Kelce’s respective fan camps are arguing about who is actually the bigger star of the two: Taylor Swift with an estimated fortune of over 750 million francs and countless awards? Or Kelce, who is considered the most dominant player at his position (tight end) and has already won the Super Bowl twice?

When Allegiant Stadium was still a huge construction site, Gerard Decosta seized the opportunity: the construction worker and outspoken Chiefs fan buried his team’s flag with the inscription “Chiefs Kingdom” under what would become the stadium’s playing field. A good omen for the Super Bowl? In any case, the Chiefs have never lost in Las Vegas since the stadium opened.

Source : Blick