The figures behind Super Bowl LIX
It doesn’t get bigger than Super Bowl in the U.S. in terms of money, attention and viewership
Super Bowl LIX
Early February every year brings us one of the biggest sport events on the calendar, the Super Bowl. The Kansas City Chiefs and their magnanimous leader Patrick Mahomes once again return to the Super Bowl to face the Philadelphia Eagles this Sunday, 9 February, at the Superdome in New Orleans. A rematch of Super Bowl LVII from two years ago where the Chiefs beat the Eagles 38-35.
The usual media circus leading up to the Super Bowl has been somewhat coopted this year, with the utterly shocking Luka Doncic trade, dominating the headlines all week.
However, with the game drawing closer, much attention is re-focusing to the most popular U.S. sport, particularly with the Chiefs at the doorstep of achieving history. No NFL team in the Super Bowl era has managed to win three titles in a row, with the Chiefs being the first back-to-back champion to reach a third Super Bowl and attempting this incredulous feat.
To get ourselves all ready for an amazing game, let’s look at the key numbers behind the Super Bowl and this match up.
The Super Bowl in numbers
123.7 million – The average viewership reached in last year’s Super Bowl LVIII between the Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers, the most-watched game in NFL history. The Chiefs vs Eagles nail biter in 2023 drew a total of 115.1 million viewers. With the Mahomes-led Chiefs dynasty and a big-market team in Philly, expect another equally high and record setting viewership figure this year.
57.7 million – Average number of viewers that tuned into the AFC Title Game (the most since 1988) between the Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills. Despite other fanbases being fed up with the Chiefs monopolizing Super Bowl wins, they cannot stop watching them. The NFC Title Game between the Eagles and the Washington Commanders only average 44.2 million viewers by comparison, likely impacted by the lopsided dismantling the Eagles gave the Commanders in their 55-23 win.
62.5 million – The total international viewership of last year’s Super Bowl outside the U.S. (+12% over the 2023 Super Bowl), with Canada, Mexico, Germany, UK and Australia all among the key markets. Unsurprisingly, the NFL has hosted or plans to host International Series Games in all of these territories (excl. Canada), with Melbourne just this week being announced as the host of a regular season game of the LA Rams in the 2026 season.
$8 million – The average cost for a premier 30-sec ad slot during Fox’s Super Bowl broadcast, up from the ~$7 million in the last two years. A ludicrous $267k per second may seem excessive, but nowhere else can an ad reach 120+ million (economically valuable) American individuals. It’s been an explosive growth since 1967’s Super Bowl I, where a 30-sec spot only cost a pedestrian $42.5k. Last year’s big standouts were Temu, who splurged big and booked multiple slots across the entire broadcast, as well as Kanye West, whose horizontally filmed erratic rambling spot advertising his new Yeezy shoes and apparel resulted in instant sell-outs the next day (generating $19 million revenue).
129.3 million – The halftime show usually outshines the game broadcast in terms of viewers, as did last year’s show by Usher, eclipsing the 123.7 million average viewers during the game. Kendrick Lamar will perform this year’s halftime show, freshly coming off of winning Record and Song of the Year at the Grammys for “Not Like Us”.
$0 – The amount of money Kendrick Lamar is being paid for his halftime show performance. While Apple sponsors the halftime show to the tune of $50 million, the NFL pockets $35 million directly and the other $15 million are used for the production of the show. Nevertheless, artists perform for the chance to be exposed to a 100+ million audience, making up the money on the backend from increased music sales as a result of the performance and by timing follow-on releases or a tour that will see increased traffic (Usher expanded his tour from 24 to 44 shows after last year’s performance to match the increased demand). Kendrick has a 23-show North America tour commencing in April that will definitely benefit from this exposure as well.
$375 million – The record-setting 10-year deal Fox gave Tom Brady to become their #1 broadcaster. The record 7-time Super Bowl champion moved to the announcer booth this season (to mixed reviews) and will call the Super Bowl that is on Fox this year (rotates from year by year between CBS, NBC, Fox).
1.47 billion – The projected number of chicken wings that will be consumed in the U.S. during the game
The Chiefs and Eagles in numbers
3-peat – As noted at the outset, the Chiefs are vying for unprecedented third Super Bowl in a row, a feat no NFL team has ever achieved in the Super Bowl era. This would further cement their case as one of the greatest dynasties in all of sports. In total there have only been 8 three-peats in all major U.S. sports since the first Super Bowl in 1967: the Oakland Athletics (1972–1974), the Montreal Canadiens (1976–1979), the New York Islanders (1980-1983), the Chicago Bulls (1991-1993 and 1996-1998), the Houston Comets (1997-2000), the New York Yankees (1998-2000) and the Los Angeles Lakers (2000-2002).
71.4% - That is the likelihood of Mahomes reaching the Super Bowl as a starter, playing already in his fifth in only 7 years starting for the Chiefs, and never finishing worse than getting to the AFC Title Game. It is undoubtedly the most prolific start to a career in the NFL ever (and maybe even in all of American Sports). Hilariously enough, it is higher than his career completion percentage of 66.6%.
17 – Total post-season wins by Mahomes (17-3 overall record), second most among quarterbacks all-time already, at just 29 years of age, trailing only Brady’s 35.
$6.75 billion – The franchise value of the Philadelphia Eagles, 8th highest among NFL teams and 12th largest across all U.S. sport teams and above the $5.43 billion valuation of the Chiefs. The NFLs popularity and the increased appetite in seeing sports teams as a lucrative asset class have resulted in impressive valuation growths over the last 4 years for both teams, 101% for the Eagles, and 92% for the Chiefs.
2,005 – The rushing yards achieved by the spectacular Saquon Barkley that the Eagles signed away from the NY Giants in free agency this summer. He is only the 9th player to rush for over 2000 yards in a single-season (and he sat out Week 18, where he had a chance to break the all-time record of 2,105 held by Eric Dickerson). Across both the regular- and postseason, Barkley has accrued 2,447 rushing yards, only 29 yards short of Terell Davis’s record of 2,476 yards, which he should eclipse if everything goes normally in the game.
$51 million – The annual salary of Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, 9th highest in the league, ahead of Mahomes’s humble $45 million (only 12th amongst QBs, despite being undisputedly the most successful active QB with 3 Super Bowls), from his 10-year $450m contract signed in 2020.
301 – Total career wins by chiefs coach Andy Reid, making him only the 4th coach to pass the 300-win milestone, edging ever closer to all-time leader Don Shula’s 347 wins. Unsurprisingly, Reid is the highest paid coach in the league at $20 million annually.
1.5 – The points by which the Chiefs are favored in this matchup, the first time in their last three Super Bowls that the Chiefs are favorites.
+225 – Purple Gatorade is the betting favorite this year for the color of the first Gatorade poured on the on the winning head coach.
For additional Super Bowl figures and breakdowns, check out last year’s detailing of Super Bowl LVII
Greatness awaits
The Eagles have the best roster in the league, but the Chiefs have THE cheat code when it comes to post-season football, Patrick Mahomes. Can the Chiefs once again win the coveted Vince Lombardi trophy for a third straight time or will the Eagles avenge their loss 2-years ago?
The stage is set for an amazing Super Bowl, especially with the historic stakes the Chiefs are playing for! Let’s hope for an equally intense and high-scoring Super Bowl as the last time these two teams met in this game!
One random fact
Pat Riley (President of the Miami Heat basketball team) has held the trademark to several variations of the phrase “threepeat” in the U.S. since more than 30 years, raking in royalties every time such a feat was achieved in the U.S. In order to avoid having to pay Riley a royalty fee on every threepeat branded item the NFL would sell in case of a Chiefs win, the NFL reached an agreement with Riley to use “threepeat” for an undisclosed amount
Thanks for reading
I hope you have a better appreciation for the game and sheer numbers behind this gigantic spectacle. Enjoy the game!
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