Football Sunday: Why are people excited for this year’s Super Bowl

One quarter of Americans (25%) say they will have some action on the game through either mobile sports betting or other forms of wagering.

The Super Bowl is just days away with the native Los Angeles Rams set to kick off against the Cincinnati Bengals at 6:30pm EST this Sunday. But are Americans planning on participating in Super Bowl festivities? And what are they planning on doing to celebrate?

56% of Americans plan on watching the game this Sunday, with only 29% committed to watching the pregame show, and 23%  planning on watching the national anthem, which will be performed by country music star, Mickey Guyton.

However, this year’s halftime show draws nearly as much attention as the game itself. 51 % of Americans say they plan to tune in. This can be attributed to the NFL doing an effective job on promoting the event, with two-thirds (65%) of Americans aware of this year’s performers (Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar, and Mary J. Blige). In fact, this year’s Super Bowl is getting a lot more people excited about the halftime show than previous years. 50% of Americans who casually watch the Super Bowl halftime show say that this year’s performers are better or much better than recent years. [Past years include The Weekend (2021), Jennifer Lopez and Shakira (2020) and Maroon 5 and Travis Scott (2019.)]

But what else are sports fans and non-sports fans looking forward to this Sunday?

Show me the money!

Since the game is being played in Hollywood, it only felt right to pay tribute to Tom Cruise’s Jerry Maguire. But one tradition surrounding Super Bowl Sunday that can no longer be downplayed is sports gambling. A quarter of Americans (25%) say they will have some action on the game through either mobile sports betting on platforms such as DraftKings or FanDuel, participating in Super Bowl squares, fantasy football, or other forms of wagering. And although the Rams come into the game as a 4-point favorite, Americans expect it to be a much closer fight, giving LA the slim edge with 51% predicting the Rams to win the game.

The goods. Food, that is.

Food is always a huge component of the Super Bowl, whether it comes to the snacks before the game, the barbeques tailgating the event, or food commercials interspersed throughout the game’s broadcasting. When asked what you plan to do on Super Bowl Sunday, 55% of Americans said they’ll be making home cooked traditional Super Bowl food, including nachos, chili, wings, hot dogs, and more. 46% of Americans plan to eat nachos on Super Bowl Sunday, 55% plan to eat pizza, 56% plan to eat chicken wings, and 61% plan to eat chips and dips.

Are commercials on Super Bowl Sunday the best part about watching?

A third of Americans say that they only watch the Super Bowl to see the new commercials every year, and more than half say the commercials during the game are an integral part of their Super Bowl experience.

Curiously, for most of the year, advertisements are met with criticism, a nuisance to media consumers. But Americans are shown to feel differently about the commercials that happen during the Super Bowl, with many having high expectations for this year. More than half of Americans (54%) say that they do not like it when Super Bowl commercials are centered around political issues, because they should be an emotional escape, and 49% say that Super Bowl commercials should always be funny and not serious.

No matter how Americans plan on celebrating the Super Bowl, it’s become an iconic tradition across the nation, with everyone watching finding something that brings them joy, whether it be the rivalry, the halftime show, the commercials, food, or the game itself.