Attend a Super Bowl watch party in the Bay Area
Countless bars, restaurants, cafes and event spaces around the Bay will be hosting their own Super Bowl watch parties on Sunday. Some will be ticketed, some will require RSVPs, but one thing’s virtually certain: You’ll need to show up early to get a seat.
Here is just a small selection of the various Super Bowl watch parties happening around the Bay Area.
Reddit user Agreeable-Ostrich773 has also created a map of places Niners fans are known to meet up.
More Super Bowl-adjacent entertainment to watch Sunday
This year will also be the first year that Nickelodeon is airing its own version of the Super Bowl, with Spongebob and Patrick as the commentators. You can watch this on CBS/Nickelodeon on cable or Paramount Plus’ streaming service. You may also consider pre-gaming this historic moment with the best Spongebob Squarepants episode aired: “Band Geeks,” to better understand why Nickelodeon will be playing a new version of the track “Sweet Victory” before their version of Sunday’s game.
The most important thing in the world, the Puppy Bowl, is airing before the Super Bowl at 11 a.m. PST, and you can stream it on Max, Animal Planet, TBS, Discovery and TruTV. (And if you are thinking of taking the big step and committing to dog adoption yourself, you may be able to do it for $49 from the Humane Society Silicon Valley.)
Who is playing the Super Bowl half-time show?
Legendary performer Usher will be headlining the half-time, hot off his wildly successful Las Vegas residency and new album, Coming Home.
(Usher has also announced a North America tour — so keep your eyes out for ticket sign-ups after the Super Bowl if you’re hoping to attend. He will be playing two nights in Oakland at the end of September.)
Relive his excellent Tiny Desk performance from 2022.
What are the anticipated Super Bowl commercials this year?
For the less football-inclined, commercials can often be the highlight of the Super Bowl — or at least some distraction. This year will feature celebrities like Jenna Ortega, Chris Pratt, Tom Brady and Boston actor Ben Affleck (in a Dunkin Donuts commercial, naturally.)
Dunkin’ ‘Popstar’ ft. Ben Affleck & Charli D’Amelio
Here is a particularly adorable advertisement for film fans featuring Killers of the Flower Moon director Martin Scorsese and his daughter, Francesca Scorsese — who are both popular on her TikTok page, where she unleashes Gen-Z trends on her famed father.
Marty & Francesca Make a Website
This author is also, I’ll admit, confounded by this ad from Paramount Plus, where Star Trek’s Patrick Stewart tries to kill the football-headed boy from Nickelodeon’s Hey Arnold.
Paramount+ Super Bowl Spot | Sir Patrick Stewart Throws a Hail Arnold | A Mountain of Entertainment™
The Super Bowl is also a prime time to drop new movie trailers of upcoming blockbusters this summer. (This author’s personal hopes are for Dune Part Two and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. Deadpool 3, Wicked and Inside Out 2 are also big bets.)
(Non-Swifties do not interact) Will Taylor Swift be there?
Taylor Swift has been showing up at a lot of Kansas City Chiefs games to cheer on boyfriend and Chiefs player Travis Kelce. But this week might be hard, considering she is scheduled for her Tokyo shows of the Eras tour.
