Super Bowl 2025: UK kick-off time, teams, stadium, half-time show performer & will Taylor Swift attend?

The Kansas City Chiefs' pursuit of excellence in Super Bowl history appears destined to culminate this Sunday in New Orleans. This marks the second time in nearly three years that the Chiefs will face the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL's championship game.

However, this time the Chiefs are aiming to achieve an unprecedented feat—becoming the first team to win three consecutive Super Bowl titles. Their quest for NFL immortality will take place in what many consider not only the best Super Bowl host city but also one of America’s most distinctive cities.

New Orleans’ food, culture, and party atmosphere are why the NFL continues to bring the event back to the “Big Easy.” Super Bowl LIX will be the city’s 11th Super Bowl, tying Miami for the most, and the Louisiana Gulf region is set to host another football extravaganza.

In major US sports leagues, a “three-peat” refers to a team winning the national championship for three consecutive years. There have been five three-peats in basketball’s NBA and hockey’s NHL, while there have been four in Major League Baseball. The Green Bay Packers achieved two NFL three-peats, the second being the first two Super Bowls in 1967 and 1968, but no team has ever won three consecutive Super Bowls.

Before the Kansas City dynasty, eight teams in the Super Bowl era had won back-to-back titles, with five of them reaching the playoffs the following season. Three teams lost in the league championship game, with the Dallas Cowboys being the most recent to reach this point (1995). Thus, the Chiefs are already closer to a Super Bowl three-peat than any other team. This is their fifth Super Bowl appearance in six years, with quarterback Patrick Mahomes and coach Andy Reid vying for their fourth title.

Prior to entering the league championship, the Philadelphia Eagles were the favorites to win Super Bowl LIX. They finished with the NFL’s best record (15-2), tied with Kansas City, and hosted the Washington Commanders, the NFC’s sixth seed. Led by star running back Saquon Barkley, the Eagles defeated the Commanders, but the Chiefs replaced them as favorites after beating the Buffalo Bills and their quarterback Josh Allen, a leading MVP candidate this season.

However, the Philadelphia team doesn’t mind being the underdog. They were considered underdogs throughout their 2018 playoff run, with their players celebrating each victory by wearing dog masks. The Eagles ultimately upset the New England Patriots to win their first Super Bowl title. When they returned to the final in 2023, they were considered slight favorites over the Chiefs but narrowly lost the thrilling game, so Sunday's match will be about revenge or a repeat.

In case you missed it, Taylor Swift’s boyfriend is Kansas City’s star tight end Travis Kelce, which has garnered the NFL, and the Chiefs in particular, a huge new fanbase. There was speculation whether the music megastar would attend last year’s Super Bowl, given she had performed in Tokyo the night before, but she made it to Las Vegas in time to watch Kansas City beat San Francisco in overtime. Swift had actress Blake Lively in her suite that day, while WNBA star Caitlin Clark—a lifelong Chiefs fan—joined her last month to watch their playoff win against Houston.

Swift is expected to be in attendance again on Sunday, but the Philadelphia team will also have plenty of celebrity support, who will join fans and revelers in celebrating in New Orleans. Actors Bradley Cooper and Rob McElhenney are lifelong Eagles fans. Some of Kelce’s family will also be cheering them on. He and his brother Jason were on opposing teams in Super Bowl LVII, and Jason, now a TV host and analyst, and his wife Kylie, a die-hard Eagles fan, have made it clear they will be supporting his former team.

Many of the 120 million TV viewers may be more interested in the halftime show than the game itself, with this year’s headliner being American rapper Kendrick Lamar. The performance usually features guest appearances, and rumors are swirling about who might join Lamar. So far, SZA is the only confirmed guest performer, but some are hoping Swift will make an appearance on stage, as Lamar featured on Swift’s 2015 hit song “Bad Blood.”

There is indeed a feud between Lamar and Drake, and their long-running rivalry intensified last year with the release of Lamar’s hit song “Not Like Us.” Drake subsequently filed a defamation lawsuit over the song, which won five Grammy awards on Sunday, bringing Lamar’s total to 22. There could be further legal consequences if Lamar performs the controversial lyrics. This would not please a group of Louisiana lawmakers, who have complained about recent halftime performances being too “lewd” for their state.

Super Bowl LIX will be held at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The stadium hosted its first Super Bowl in 1978 and has hosted more NFL championship games than any other stadium (seven). This year will be the first time the game has been held in New Orleans since 2013 and the 11th time overall. The Superdome is the home of the New Orleans Saints and opened in 1975, so this year’s Super Bowl coincides with the stadium’s 50th anniversary.

The stadium seats around 75,000 people and has undergone a five-year, $560 million (£458.7m) renovation that was completed in time for this season. The cheapest resale tickets available on Monday were priced at $3,386 (£2,749). Last year, 123.4 million people in the US watched the Super Bowl, making it the highest-rated broadcast since the moon landing in 1969. Last year’s game had 3.4 million unique viewers in the UK, a 48% increase from the previous year. Over 10 television commercials sold for a record price of over $8 million (£6.4m) for a 30-second spot. According to the American Gaming Association, nearly 68 million US adults (about one in four) bet on the Super Bowl last year. The US Chicken Council predicts 1.47 billion chicken wings will be eaten during the game. Super Bowl LIX is expected to bring over $500 million (£406m) in revenue to the Louisiana economy, with over 70,000 visitors from out of state.

The BBC will bring you live text commentary of Super Bowl LIX on Sunday via the BBC Sport website and app. You can listen to live radio commentary from 23:00 GMT on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra and BBC Sounds, and watch post-match video highlights on the BBC website.