Super Bowl 2026 LIVE updates: New England Patriots v Seattle Seahawks in Santa Clara, California

Bad Bunny has just stepped on stage at Levi’s Stadium to headline what will likely be the first non-English half-time show at the Super Bowl.

Cranking out ultimate reggaeton banger Titi Me Pregunto as his opening tune, the question everyone is thinking: when, not if, will he say something about ICE or Trump? Fans outside the stadium were also snapped holding “ICE OUT” signs – a catchphrase used by Benito in his Grammys speech last week.

Either way, the performance is sure to get even a straightie-180 to move their hips.

With astonishing pay packets for the star players, and eye-watering amounts of money spent on television rights, you might think all the money in American football is either on the field, or locked in the vaults of TV networks around the world. In truth, however, the biggest slice of cash is likely wedged into the commercial breaks.

Super Bowl ads have become an event almost as big as the game itself, with vast sums spent by major US and international brands trying to create 30-second TV ads which can capture the zeitgeist. And the price to get your ad into one of those commercial slots during the Super Bowl telecast? Between US$8 million and US$10 million, per 30-second slot.

Some of the ads remain under wraps, not unveiled until game day itself. But there are some clear trends which have sprung out of the Super Bowl ad world in the last few years, which illuminate not just how brands market themselves, but how audiences respond to the ads.

The biggest take out of last year’s Super Bowl ad slate was that more than 60 per cent of the ads featured celebrity talent, with almost 100 celebrities featured in the ads, and many of them as ensembles. That is, ads featuring more than one celebrity.

And the price tag of signing all that talent? An astonishing US$253 million. Nope, you didn’t read that wrong … that’s a quarter of a billion American dollars shelled out booking A-list talent just for one day’s slate of TV ads.

You can read (and watch) a wrap of the 10 buzziest Super Bowl ads released in the pre-game rush, here.

Enjoyed the Green Day show before kick-off? You should have seen them on Friday (US time) …

The veteran US rockers performed at a Spotify pre-Super Bowl party in San Francisco, singing fan favourites such as Holiday – but with a twist.

Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong implored US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to quit, telling them to “come on this side of the line”.

“This goes out to all the ICE agents out there,” he said on-stage. “Wherever you are – quit your shitty-ass job. Quit that shitty job you have. Because when this is over – and it will be over at some point in time – Kristi Noem, Stephen Miller, J.D. Vance, Donald Trump, they’re going to drop you like a bad f---ing habit.”

The band also dedicated their song Holiday to the people of Minneapolis, and changed some of the lyrics from “the representative from California has the floor” to “the representative from Epstein Island has the floor”.

They may have played it safe during the pre-game entertainment today, but their explosive Friday performance still echoes.

That’s half-time and the Seattle Seahawks are holding a 9-0 lead.

The Seahawks had another good chance to drive for a touchdown ahead of the break, but a long pass from Sam Darnold to star receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba was broken up by Christian Gonzalez on the goalline.

They settled for a third field goal from Jason Myers.

It hasn’t been a free-flowing game so far and that’s because both sides are giving the other absolutely nothing in defence.

The pressure at the line has been smothering for both quarterbacks, and there have been very few yawning gaps for running backs either.

Defensive coverage in the backfield has also been good.

It is the first time all season that the Patriots have been held scoreless in the first half.

A nine-point lead usually isn’t enough to feel confident in the NFL but this Super Bowl doesn’t feel like it will suddenly break open ... so who knows?

Could Michael Dickson join Jordan Mailata as the second Aussie to start and win a Super Bowl?

The cover of the album DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS – two white plastic chairs in front of a lush tropical backdrop – has sparked an online trend about the conversations had on them in backyards across the world.

Benito’s songwriting about Puerto Rico has always been political. When he is not singing about a studious, quiet girl with a propensity for partying and drugs, he turns to the state of his beloved island.

Bad Bunny dives harder into the theme of gentrification. In Lo Que Paso A Hawaii (What Happened to Hawaii), he states: “They want to take my river and my beach as well, they want my neighbourhood and for my grandma to leave.”

He even sings about a girl who left him feeling “colonised” in Kloufrens. Although she is not named, it would be hard not to look at his last public relationship … Kendall Jenner.

DtMF is where he gets nostalgic, like he’s telling his audience to hold their loved ones tight. In the NUEVAYoL music video – set on the fourth of July in the US – a voice that sounds a lot like President Donald Trump speaks from a radio and says: “I made a mistake, I want to apologise to the immigrants of America … this country is nothing without the immigrants.”

Because in the end, what really matters when your home is levelled by a natural disaster and your community is left without power for weeks? You just gotta pull out the cheap plastic chairs, a few beverages and be with your loved ones.

Hundreds are said to be protesting against the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and Donald Trump’s immigration policy outside Levi’s Stadium. The protesters are holding signs that read “killer ICE off our streets” and “no more detentions, no more deportations, abolish ICE”.

Some of the group marching towards the stadium are members of Latinos Contra Cancer and Patient Organising Committee, a non-profit that advocates for more accessible healthcare for the Latino community.

When it comes to the Super Bowl, go big or go home. This applies to food at Levi’s Stadium too, which includes a burger to end all burgers.

The “LX burger” is a colossal braised veal shank with blue cheese sauce (made up of a Mire Poix demi-glace and Point Reyes Blue fondue, Reuters reports), all served on a house-baked brioche bun. It’s so big, it could feed four.

The price-tag is also massive … This burger is sold for a whopping $US180 ($256). It’s the most expensive concession item at the Super Bowl today, equivalent to buying about 18 hot dogs … And if you’d like to wash it down with a refreshing beverage, you can shell out $US36 for a double tequila sunrise. I hope punters have been saving up.

Click here to read article