If early Monday (0.30 a.m., Per seven) Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes face each other in the duel of the quarterbacks at the Super Bowl, the eyes of millions of football fans turn to the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. The duel between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs will be shaped in advance by the two stars, Brady with the Buccaneers and Mahomes with Kansas, and will attract worldwide attention. In addition, as every year, the halftime show and the thunderstorm from commercials are in focus. But: In 2021, which is still characterized by the pandemic, the mega sports event will come in a Corona variant.
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It was long discussed whether spectators would be allowed into the stadium. The answer: 22,000 people can watch the spectacle live in the arena. 7500 of the audience in attendance were already vaccinated medical workers who were invited as guests to Tampa by the National Football League (NFL) as a thank you for their dedication to the pandemic. It shouldn’t be the only thank you to the nursing staff. Before the game, poet Amanda Gorman, who has become very famous since the inauguration of US President Joe Biden, is supposed to recite a poem about the outstanding achievements of the “essential workers” in the pandemic.
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Strict protective measures and a hygiene concept thought out down to the last detail should also enable the 14,500 remaining fans to visit the stadium safely. To put it into perspective: Before the pandemic, the Bucs’ home games were watched live by 70,000 people in the stadium. These spectators could have enjoyed a spectacular half-time show at the Super Bowl. This year the Canadian superstar The Weeknd (“Blinding Lights”) will perform during the break. As a music avant-garde, he has played a key role in shaping the US industry in recent years. Anyone who makes it into the break of the Super Bowl as an artist has actually achieved everything anyway. The short show has around 100 million viewers in front of the TV sets every year – in the USA alone.
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The Weeknd apparently has big plans for the Tampa mega show. The Canadian paid seven million dollars out of pocket so that nothing went wrong with the production of his planned performance. He wants to make his performance one of the best shows that ever existed on stage and on television. “We’re really focused on connecting with the fans back home and making the shows a cinematic experience,” The Weeknd told the magazine Billboard. Big names also grow up around the US national anthem every year at the Super Bowl. In 2021 the honor will be given to singer Jazmine Sullivan and country star Eric Church. In the past, stars such as Lady Gaga, Beyoncé and Whitney Houston, Jennifer Lopez and Shakira had been on stage at the Super Bowl.
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In addition to sports and music, the Super Bowl will also revolve around advertising this year. But there will also be changes here in the pandemic year. Normally, the biggest companies spend millions on their Super Bowl-produced advertisements – not least, they have to put down over five million dollars for 30 seconds of airtime. But for this time, a number of corporations have announced that they will not be sending any spots into the race. In addition to Coca-Cola and Pepsi, they also include the beer manufacturer Budweiser, which, according to its own statements, prefers to spend the money on education about the Covid-19 vaccination campaign. The company aptly announced the move in its own promotional video praising the U.S.’s resilience to the pandemic.
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