How does the game work?
Aside from the helmets with face masks,the hulking shoulder pads and the pants-meets-socks legwear,the game is similar to rugby league,at least in some ways. The attacking team has a limited number of plays to either reach the other team’s goal line,which is a touchdown,or kick the ball away. A touchdown is worth six points,and a field goal – kicked from near the goal line – is worth three.
These athletes are big brands in the US. Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson,the highest-paid player in the league,earns $US35 million ($51 million) a year – excluding sponsor endorsements,which would more than double that amount.
When you include endorsements,the only athletes who make more money anywhere in the world are a handful of European footballers,Mexican boxer Canelo Alvarez and Swiss tennis superstar Roger Federer,according toForbes,and none of them play a sport that has to adhere to a salary cap as American football does.
Each team has up to $US188 million ($275 million) to spend on player salaries each year across their 53-man roster and on anyone who may be"released"during the season. The most ruthless example of this was in 2012,when Patriots coach Bill Belichick let go of wide receiver Tiquan Underwood and signed defensive lineman Alex Silvestro the night before the Super Bowl.
The teams are worth not millions,but billions. In theForbeslist of the 50 most valuable sports franchises in the world in 2019,National Football League teams make up more than half the entries – and there are only 32 teams. The Dallas Cowboys top the list with a net worth of $US5 billion ($7.3 billion) ahead of the New York Yankees baseball team at $US4.6 billion ($6.7 billion).
Wait,there’s an Australian in the Super Bowl?
You bet. Wishnowsky,27,will become the second Australian ever to play in a Super Bowl. The first was former Geelong left-footer Ben Graham,who quit the AFL to become a punter with the New York Jets in 2005 and who was playing with the Arizona Cardinals when they lost the Super Bowl in 2009.
Graham,who has come full circle to be football operations manager for the Western Bulldogs in Melbourne,is the first Australian to captain an American professional sports team (the Jets).
Sav Rocca,Chris Bryan and Darren Bennett are other AFL players who switched sports.
Australian Mitch Wishnowsky flattens a Broncos returner in August 2019. Source:San Francisco 49ers
More recently,a pipeline to the big leagues has been established through kicking program Prokick Australia,which teaches Australians the fundamentals of American football at a much earlier age. As a result,Wishnowsky – who joined up as an adult – and dozens of other Australians have gone over to play college football,and he and several others have been signed by NFL teams when they graduated.
Wishnowsky signed a four-year,$US3.3 million ($A4.8 million) contract with the 49ers last year,which included a $US765,000 ($A1.1 million) signing bonus.
"While Americans grow up wanting to throw the ball,"he says on the 49ers website,"we grow up trying to kick 60-yard goals. Sure,the techniques are slightly different,but the swing of your leg is pretty much the same. We have that muscle memory drilled into us from a young age."
The first Australian to play in the NFL was Colin Ridgway,who competed in high jump in the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne,and then went on to become a track-and-field star at an American college where he was discovered by the Dallas Cowboys.
Several others have made the grade at other positions. Ex-rugby player Colin Scotts was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals in 1987 and,of course,former NRL star Jarryd Hayne played a handful of games for the 49ers in 2015. Two non-punters are currently on NFL teams:defensive lineman Adam Gotsis from Melbourne and offensive lineman Jordan Mailata from Sydney.
After a standout college career,Queenslander Jesse Williams is the only Australian to be part of a winning Super Bowl team but he wasn't able to play in the game itself – injuries prevented him from ever taking the field as a professional. Despite this,he was given a championship ring by the Seattle Seahawks when they won in 2014.
How popular is the Super Bowl in Australia?
There are plenty of ticketed events for fans of the event around Australia,including the Luna Bowl at Luna Park in Sydney,which charges patrons $150 each for four hours of unlimited drinks,food,prize draws and special guests.
"I thought that American-type things like the Super Bowl and Halloween were getting bigger and bigger in Australia,"says Luna Park sales manager Billy Andonovski."I knew it would work from a business point of view but I was surprised how quickly it grew."
The first Luna Bowl event in 2017 sold just over 300 tickets;this year organisers have sold more than 1000.
In Melbourne,a handful of pubs and restaurants are offering patrons early morning buckets of chicken wings,hot dogs,bagels,chips and coleslaw washed down with beverages ranging from beer to Jack Daniel's – and that's before the main game starts on the big flat-screens.
Australia's interest in American sports took off on a popular scale in the early 1990s when basketballer Michael Jordan was one of the biggest names in sport. Since then,both the NFL and National Basketball Association have become hugely popular,particularly with millennials. While basketball always had a presence,there are now strong state leagues for American football around the country.
The arrival of NFL's RedZone program cultivated that growth further.Essentially enabling fans to watch every game at the same time,the product was a smash hit in the US and proved hugely popular in Australia when it was rolled out on ESPN a couple of years ago.
The Australian Outback is the representative team that competes every four years in the International Federation of American Football World Cup,which began in 1999. Wollongong will host the event in 2023.
The most popular team in Australia is the New England Patriots,from the north-east of the US,largely because they have been the dominant force in the sport in the US over the past two decades,winning six Super Bowls between 2001 and 2019 (as well as losing three others).
The Patriots’ coach,Bill Belichick,is widely considered to be the best coach in the sport’s history.
Thousands of Australians also subscribe to online streaming services that show basketball and football games from the US. Gambling companies say young people are betting on American sports at a higher rate than any other market. The NBA is the sport most bet on in Australia.
Speaking of gambling,you can bet on just about every single aspect of the Super Bowl:from how long pop star Demi Lovato's rendition ofThe Star Spangled Banner will be (over two minutes is the favourite,paying $1.40),what songs Jennifer Lopez and Shakira will sing first,how the opening coin toss will land,and what colour the Gatorade – another masterful stroke of Super Bowl product placement – will be when the winning team dumps it over the head of their coach,as has become the custom.
Lady Gaga performs at half-time in 2017. Source:NFL
Why is the half-time show such a big deal?
The half-time concert has been a tradition since the inaugural Super Bowl in 1967 but usually involved just marching bands until the 1990s when it became almost as big a deal as the game itself.
The boy band New Kids On the Block headlined in 1991 when Disney sponsored the half-time show. Cuban-American pop star Gloria Estefan followed in 1992. Michael Jackson moonwalking across the stage in 1993 led to a ratings spike and motivated the NFL to continue to pursue top-level talent with bells and whistles staging. Bands such as U2,Coldplay,Red Hot Chili Peppers and Destiny's Child have headlined as well as Paul McCartney,Prince and Sting.
The show is a win-win for advertisers and organisers as well as the musicians,who are not paid but whose music sales and popularity often spike as a result of the exposure.
It's arguable that 2004's “wardrobe malfunction” known as Nipplegate,featuring Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson – whose costume ripped to expose her (shielded) nipple – is remembered by more people than any football-related incident that's ever taken place at a Super Bowl.
Budweiser’s 1999 “Whassup” Super Bowl ad. Source:Budweiser
Why are the commercials such a'thing'?
A 30-second TV spot will cost $US5.6 million ($8.2 million). President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential hopeful Michael Bloomberg have each shelled out $US11 million ($16.1 million) for 60 seconds. Both Pepsi and Coca-Cola will run ads as will multiple car and beer companies.
This isn’t just a case of paying a lot of money to air an existing ad. Most businesses create an ad specifically for the Super Bowl – paying celebrities to boost the brand as well. Talk-show host Jimmy Fallon stars in a beer commercial this year,for instance,and'90s star Molly Ringwald,a Gen X favourite,spruiks Mexican avocados (think,guacamole).
The cash may be well worth it if the ad can hit the right note. In 2012,Honda paid actor Matthew Broderick to recreate scenes from the hit 1980s movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. People still talk about Michael Jordan and Larry Bird playing basketball for a Big Mac in McDonald’s 1993 commercial,and Apple's 1984 ad that was directed by filmmaker Ridley Scott. Budweiser’sWhassup ad brought the popular greeting to a global audience while spawning one of the most annoying songs of all time.
Followlive coverage of the championship game with us from 10.30am (AEDT).