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Super Bowl LIX is set and ready to go as the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles get ready to clash in New Orleans on Feb. 9.
The Chiefs make it back to their third Super Bowl in a row after taking down the Buffalo Bills 32-29 in Kansas City on Sunday.
The Eagles return to the Super Bowl for their third time since 2018. They got here after holding off the Washington Commanders in a dominating fashion at home 55-23.
Kansas City is looking to become the first team in NFL history to win three straight Super Bowls and are the first team ever to make the Super Bowl after winning the previous two.
How they got here
Kansas City dominated, going 15-2 in the regular season with their two losses coming from the Bills in week 11 and the Broncos in week 18.
The Chiefs have a knack for the close game this year as 11 of their wins were within one score.
The NFL Playoffs consist of 14 teams competing in their own conferences (the AFC and NFC) to make it to the Super Bowl. The Chiefs had the best record in the AFC and earned the coveted No. 1 seed.
The No. 1 seed gave the Chiefs an extra week of rest and preparation as well as guaranteed home-field advantage. Due to Kansas City’s regular season dominance, their path to the Super Bowl was easier than most teams.
The Chiefs’ playoff path included taking down the fourth-seed Houston Texans 23-14 in the divisional round. Then they defeated the No. 2 seed Bills, winning them the AFC championship and Lamar Hunt Trophy for the fifth time.
The Eagles got here after a 14-3 season. After a 2-2 start to the season, a 10-game winning streak put early-season concerns to rest.
The Eagles came into the playoffs as the No. 3 seed and bested the seventh-seed Green Bay Packers 22-10 in the wild card round, then in the divisional round in a snowy battle came out on top over the fourth-seed Los Angeles Rams. And with a commanding display in the NFC championship game against the sixth-seed Washington Commanders, they won their fourth NFC title.
Players to watch
Patrick Mahomes, the Chiefs quarterback, has accomplished something no quarterback has ever done in the history of the NFL by making it to seven straight AFC championship games.
Mahomes will be heading to the Super Bowl for his fifth time and is looking for his fourth victory. With a fourth ring, it would make Mahomes just the fourth quarterback to win four or more Super Bowls and put his name on the list with legends such as Terry Bradshaw (four), Joe Montana (four) and Tom Brady (seven).
Travis Kelce, the Chiefs tight end, has been Mahomes’ right-hand man since the quarterback entered the league. Kelce looks to also win his fourth Super Bowl and add another piece to his Hall of Fame resume.
The Eagles offense has been led by their star running back Saquan Barkley, who ran for over 2,000 yards and 13 touchdowns in the regular season. Barkley has continued his dominance into the postseason; in the three games this postseason, he has 442 yards and five touchdowns.
Jalen Hurts, quarterback for the Eagles, looks to win his first career Super Bowl. The former Oklahoma and Alabama star QB won a national championship with the Crimson Tide in 2017. A Super Bowl win to go with that would make Hurts just the third QB all-time to win both, the other two being Joe Namath and Joe Montana.
Two storied teams face off
Philadelphia comes into this game with a large chip on their shoulder as, just two years ago, the Chiefs defeated the Eagles in the Super Bowl 38-35. The teams have only played each other once since that Super Bowl, and the Eagles defeated them in Kansas City 21-17.
Outside of the Super Bowl loss, the Eagles have played the Chiefs 10 times in their history as a franchise and have a record of 5-5.
By making it back to the Super Bowl, Eagles quarterback Hurts breaks a 35-year curse. The last 19 quarterbacks to make their Super Bowl debut and lose never made it back to the Big Game.
The New Orleans Super Bowl experience
New Orleans is no stranger to hosting the Super Bowl and has thrown America’s largest sporting event a record-tying 11 times. No other city has hosted the Super Bowl more than New Orleans and Miami.
The last time New Orleans hosted the event was in 2013, which was between the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens. Super Bowl XLVII is infamous for the stadium’s power outage that occurred a minute and a half into the third quarter.
The failure in the electrical distribution system resulted in a frustrating 30-minute delay for all parties involved. The city of New Orleans and Caesars Superdome will look to prevent any similar malfunctions from occurring.
The first time New Orleans hosted the Big Game was in 1970 for the fourth Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Minnesota Vikings. The Chiefs were 13.5-point underdogs but ended up crushing the Vikings 23-7, winning their very first Super Bowl.
There will be plenty of events for fans down in New Orleans as Super Bowl Opening Night, the teams’ only public appearance before game day, kicks off the week on Monday at Caesars Superdome and the Super Bowl Experience, a NFL fan festival, opens Wednesday at the New Orleans Convention Center. The Louisiana Culture Festival at French Market starts on Friday, and the host committee parade is on Saturday. There are plenty of other events for fans of all ages to attend.
Yes, Taylor Swift increases TV ratings
The NFL has long been America’s No. 1 sport in terms of viewership, and yet the impact of Taylor Swift has led the league’s popularity to unprecedented levels.
In July 2023, Kansas City Chiefs star tight end Kelce mentioned on his podcast that he had gone to one of Swift’s concerts. It was only a few months later, on Sept. 24, that she made her first appearance at a Chiefs game.
She sat right next to “Mama” Kelce and watched Kansas City defeat the Chicago Bears 41-10.
The Chiefs-Bears game saw a 63% increase in female viewership between women 18 and 49 years old, and Kelce’s jersey sales saw a 400% increase.
Swift’s presence drove the NFL’s viewership up to an average of 17.9 million views per game, which was up 7% from the previous season, and female viewership rose by 9%.
Not long after the Chiefs won Super Bowl LVIII—in which the Chiefs beat the 49ers 25-22—Swift and Kelce were confirmed to be in a relationship. It was the most-watched Super Bowl of all time and averaged 123.7 million viewers.
The halftime show
Kendrick Lamar will be performing this year’s halftime show, following up Usher’s performance a year ago, which drew in a record 129.3 million people.
For the third straight year, the NFL selected a hip-hop artist to perform, as Lamar is widely considered one of the greatest rappers of all time.
Lamar’s popularity skyrocketed in 2024 due to his entertaining feud with Drake. The two artists released several diss tracks, which gave millions the joy of witnessing two music titans battle through song.
The Super Bowl’s cultural impact
The Super Bowl is America’s largest sporting event in terms of TV viewership, with the game expected to hit over 200 million viewers, according to a 2025 Super Bowl Spending Survey. More than 113.7 million people are expected to throw a party.
Super Bowl ads are a big draw for some fans, as companies use the massive viewership to promote their brands. A 30-second ad costs $7 million, and all the ad space sold out in August, according to a report from Variety.
Caleb Crockett and Ryan Gage are reporters for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students. The Statehouse File’s new sports team will be reporting all the Super Bowl happenings live from New Orleans Feb. 2-10.
