When is it, who’s performing and how to watch : NPR

The Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs will face off at their second Super Bowl in three years on Sunday.

There’s a lot on the line: the Chiefs could become the first team to win three straight Super Bowls, while the Eagles hope to redeem themselves after a nail-biting loss in 2023.

Even non-football fans will have plenty to look forward to, from star-studded commercials to a halftime show headlined by Kendrick Lamar, fresh off his latest Grammy wins.

How can you watch, and what should you be watching for? Here’s what to know about Super Bowl 59.

Where and when

Super Bowl 59 will kick off at 6:30 p.m. EST at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, the home of the New Orleans Saints.

The city last hosted Super Bowl 47 in 2013, which saw the Baltimore Ravens beat the San Francisco 49ers — plus a halftime show by Beyoncé and a brief power outage that together broke the internet.

You can tune in earlier on Sunday for pregame coverage from ESPN and Fox Sports. Plus, Team Ruff and Team Fluff will face off in the always-adorable Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet starting at 2 p.m. EST.

How to watch

The game will air live on Fox Sports. Viewers can also watch it on the NFL app and the Fox-owned streaming platform Tubi.

It will also be available to stream through Fubo, DirecTV, Sling TV, YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV.

Telemundo and Fox Deportes will broadcast the game in Spanish, as will Kansas City-based broadcast company Tico Sports.

Who’s playing: the Chiefs

This is the Kansas City Chiefs’ fifth Super Bowl in the last six years, and the team’s third in a row.

They most recently beat the 49ers in 2024 and the Eagles in 2023 — which means they’re one win away from a historic three-peat (though even if they do it, that phrase isn’t likely to be slapped on any Chiefs merchandise).

“If they win, this is like Michael Jordan, 1990s Chicago Bulls-type stuff — history that we will all look back on as one of the greatest runs of any sport ever, if they can get it done,” says NPR sports correspondent Becky Sullivan.

As member station KCUR explains, the Chiefs’ path to this Super Bowl was a lot smoother than last year’s: They won 15 of 17 regular-season games before clinching the AFC Championship Game against the Buffalo Bills.

All along, they have gotten a huge boost from legendary quarterback Patrick Mahomes. The three-time Super Bowl MVP is “great all the time,” Sullivan says, “but what is wild about him is that all the statistics show he’s better when the pressure is the highest.”

“In must-have moments — third downs, fourth downs, end-of-game scenarios, game-winning, game-time drives — it’s incredibly hard to stop him … and that’s what I think it’s going to come down to,” she adds.

Who’s playing: the Eagles

The Philadelphia Eagles beat the New England Patriots to win their first — and so far only — Super Bowl in 2018.

They made it back to the Super Bowl in 2023 but lost to the Chiefs after they came from behind in the fourth quarter to win 38-35 with just seconds on the clock.

This time around, with 14 regular-season wins — and a blowout victory at the NFC Championship Game — under their belt, the Eagles have another shot at the Vince Lombardi trophy.

They have the motivation, a (controversial) signature play known as “the tush push,” and quite a roster.

“I think Philadelphia, pound for pound, is probably a more talented team than the Chiefs, maybe the best overall roster in the NFL,” Sullivan says.

That includes star running back — and freshly-crowned NFL Offensive Player of the Year — Saquon Barkley, who is new to the Eagles since its last trip to the Super Bowl. He also happens to be 30 yards shy of breaking the NFL season rushing record, but says “The only thing that makes it special is winning a Super Bowl.”

Who’s performing

Kendrick Lamar — who just won five Grammy awards — is set to headline the Apple Music Super Bowl 49 Halftime Show with special guests, including fellow Grammy winner and frequent collaborator SZA (with whom he is about to co-headline a national tour).

“This is one of the most important shows of his career and it’s happening at a time where he’s never been hotter,” says NPR Music’s Sidney Madden.

Lamar will be the first solo rapper to headline the halftime show. This will be the largest crowd of his career, though not his first time on the halftime stage: he performed in the 2022 halftime show alongside Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and others.

It’s not clear what will be on his setlist, though there are high hopes for his diss track “Not Like Us,” the newly-crowned song and record of the year (and the center of Drake’s defamation lawsuit against his record label).

When asked what fans can expect when he takes the stage, Lamar said, “Storytelling.”

“I think I’ve always been very open about storytelling throughout my catalog and my history,” he said at a preview this week. “And I’ve always had a passion about bringing that on whatever stage I’m on, that sense of making people listen but also see and think a little.”

There will also be several pregame performances, including a rendition of the National Anthem by Jon Batiste and “Lift Every Voice and Sing” — often called the Black National Anthem — by R&B artist Ledisi.

Who’s attending

Millions of viewers are expected to tune into the big game, and the 83,000-seat Caesars Superdome could be packed — NPR has reported that Super Bowl ticket prices are down by thousands of dollars from last year.

There are going to be some big names in the stands.

Music superstar Taylor Swift is expected to be there, as she’s dating Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. Starting last year, her presence at NFL games — and the 2024 Super Bowl — has been credited with boosting football viewership among the highly sought-after female fanbase (and sparking a right-wing conspiracy theory).

And President Trump is planning to attend in person. A pre-taped interview with Fox News’ Brett Baier will air during the pregame show on Sunday — reviving a tradition that former President Joe Biden skipped in 2023 and 2024.

Trump’s attendance is notable because of his once-rocky relationship with the NFL and specifically with the Eagles — he disinvited them from the White House after their 2018 Super Bowl win — and because no sitting president has done so.

“Security measures have been further enhanced this year, given that this will be the first time a sitting President of the United States will attend the event,” the U.S. Secret Service told NPR in a statement.

Security was already going to be extremely tight, especially after a truck attack killed 14 people and injured many others in New Orleans’ French Quarter on New Year’s Day.

Member station WWNO reports that Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry has enhanced an executive order that placed the French Quarter district in an “enhanced security zone” after that attack. It operates concurrently with a security zone surrounding the Caesars Superdome through Monday.

“The public has a role in public safety,” Landry said. “Public safety is a team sport. Just like football, just like basketball, soccer.”

What’s at stake

There’s a lot on the line besides the trophy (and hometown celebrations that would likely follow). The rivalry between the two cities has fueled plenty of prop bets and friendly wagers among its famed institutions, as member station WHYY reports.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art have agreed to loan one of their masterworks to whichever city wins.

The Philadelphia Zoo and Kansas City Zoo & Aquarium say they will decorate their famous statues (an elephant and a polar bear, respectively) with gear from the winning team. The winning city zoo will also donate $50 for each point scored to a “Saving Animals from Extinction” program at the Association of Zoos & Aquariums.

Local hospitals, animal shelters, restaurants and youth orchestras have also put donations (of funds, food — cheesesteaks vs. barbecue — and performances, respectively) on the line.

Even the local NPR stations are getting in on the rivalry. If the Eagles win, Kansas City’s KCUR will send barbecue to Philadelphia’s WHYY. If the Chiefs win, WHYY will send KCUR a basket of iconic Philly snacks.

The Super Bowl rivalry has become a public radio tradition, especially between those two stations: In 2023, WHYY sent KCUR cheesesteaks after the Chiefs beat the Eagles in 2023.