Everything you need to know about the 2025 Super Bowl

FILE PHOTO: Football - NFL - Super Bowl LVIII - Kansas City Chiefs v San Francisco 49ers - Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States - February 11, 2024 Kansas City Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes in action REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo

(Reuters) -The NFL season is in its home stretch, and with the playoff picture becoming more clear fans are sizing up their team's prospects for making it to the Super Bowl, arguably the biggest single event in U.S. sports with a huge global audience. Here's everything you need to know about Super Bowl LIX, including who is performing at halftime.  

WHERE WILL THE 59th SUPER BOWL BE HELD?

The NFL championship game will take place in New Orleans at the Caesars Superdome, home to the New Orleans Saints with a capacity of 83,000 spectators.

This marks the 11th time New Orleans has hosted the event.

When Hurricane Katrina devastated the city in 2005, the stadium in downtown New Orleans provided shelter for thousands of residents. 

WHEN WILL THE SUPER BOWL BE PLAYED?

The 59th Super Bowl is scheduled to take place on Feb. 9 at 6:30 p.m. ET (2330 GMT). This highly anticipated event on the American sports calendar draws not just football fans but those interested in the halftime show and specially created advertisements. The 2024 Super Bowl drew an estimated 210 million viewers.

HOW ARE THE SUPER BOWL COMBATANTS DECIDED?

Fourteen teams will compete in the NFL playoffs, seven from each conference. The four NFC and four AFC division champions and six wild-card teams - the three non-division winners with the best records in each conference - will compete in a single elimination tournament.  

The final four will play in the AFC and NFC championship games on Jan. 26, with the winners advancing to the Super Bowl.

In 2024, the AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs defeated the NFC champion San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in overtime to claim their second consecutive NFL title.

HAS A WILD-CARD TEAM EVER WON THE SUPER BOWL?

Yes. Seven teams who qualified for the playoffs as wild-card teams have won the big prize - the first the Oakland Raiders in 1980 and most recently the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020.

WHICH TEAMS ARE FAVORED TO REACH THE SUPER BOWL

With just a few weeks left in the NFL season, the two teams that had established themselves as early favorites still lead the pack - the Chiefs, looking to become the first team to win three consecutive Super Bowls, and the Detroit Lions, one of the four NFL teams that have never played in the big game. The Buffalo Bills, who reached four consecutive Super Bowls from 1991 to 1994 only to lose them all, and the Philadelphia Eagles also look like strong championship contenders. 

WHERE CAN YOU WATCH THE 2025 SUPER BOWL?

Fox will broadcast the Super Bowl and it will also stream on Fubo TV. 

Outside the United States, you can watch the game with subscriptions from Dazn and other services.    

WHO IS PERFORMING AT THE 2025 SUPER BOWL HALFTIME SHOW?

The Super Bowl halftime show, a 12- to 15-minute musical extravaganza and one of the most coveted slots on the U.S. music calendar, will feature Grammy-winning hip hop artist Kendrick Lamar this time.

The 37-year-old Lamar from Compton, the heart of the Los Angeles rap scene, has 17 Grammy wins and performed during the Super Bowl halftime show in 2022 along with Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem and Mary J. Blige.

Past Super Bowl halftime performers have included such luminaries as The Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, Prince, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, and Beyonce. Last season's performance featured Grammy-winning artist Usher. 

HOW MUCH DO SUPER BOWL TICKETS COST?

Super Bowl tickets are among the most coveted in all of sports, notoriously hard to find, and their prices are impacted by the game's location and which teams are playing.

According to ticket marketplace TickPick, the cheapest get-in price for Super Bowl LIX will be around $6,600, while the average ticket price is $9,500.

The two Super Bowl teams split 35% of the tickets, the host team receives 5% and the remaining 29 NFL teams each get around 1% and hold lotteries among their season-ticket holders.

The NFL retains 25% of the tickets for media members, business and community partners. The league also gives away 500 tickets.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO ADVERTISE DURING THE SUPER BOWL?

The Super Bowl is among the world's most coveted televised events for advertisers given the huge guaranteed audience, with a premium placed on creativity as Super Bowl commercials can generate outsized buzz. The price for placing commercials during the 2025 Super Bowl has not yet been reported, but for the 2024 game a 30-second spot on CBS cost around $7 million. 

WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE SUPER BOWL TROPHY?

The Vince Lombardi Trophy awarded to the Super Bowl winner each year is named in honor of legendary NFL Hall of Fame coach Lombardi, who led the Green Bay Packers to victories in the first two Super Bowl games.

(Compiled by Lisa Shumaker and Frank Pingue; Editing by Bill Berkrot)