Boring football doesn’t sell as well as the thrilling kind.
For that reason, the audience for Super Bowl LX dropped in 2026, to 124.9 million average viewers for the game.
Last year, Super Bowl LIX drew 127.7 million viewers. This year, the final number enjoyed the boost of the new Nielsen Big Data + Panel, which had been sending audience figures higher. Without that feature, the Super Bowl LX audience could have been much lower than the reported total.
The game set a record with a peak audience of 137.8 million in the second quarter, when the Seahawks held a 6-0 lead.
The Bad Bunny halftime show averaged 128.2 million viewers, down by more than five million from Kendrick Lamar’s record-setting 133.5 million in Super Bowl LIX.
The numbers remain unlike any other televised event. Still, the same question comes to mind every year at this time — with 350 million people living in the U.S., what the hell was the rest of the country doing when the Super Bowl was on?
The new betting craze — prediction markets — generated plenty of wagers in connection with the Super Bowl. And one proposition regarding who would attend the game sparked massive action.
Via David Purdum, more than $24 million was wagered on Kalshi regarding the question of whether Mark Wahlberg would attend the game. The number exceeded the amount bet on 31 other celebrities and politicians combined. It was five times greater than the amount wagered on the second-highest potential attendee: Donald Trump. (Please, don’t tell him he finished second.)
As Purdum explains it, the flood of bets happened when a rumor circulated among college sororities and fraternities before spreading on social media.
By Monday night, Kalshi had not yet resolved the question of whether Wahlberg showed up for the game.
If it wasn’t already obvious that the whole prediction-markets industry is nuts, it now should be. Folks with inside information are able to prey upon the clueless, with enhanced value coming from successful efforts to start false rumors.
And anyone who knew the truth as to whether Wahlberg would or wouldn’t attend was in position to make plenty of easy money.
Patriots left tackle Will Campbell’s struggles in Super Bowl LX have been well documented at this point.
But even with all the criticism, New England has no plans to move the No. 4 overall pick of the 2025 draft off of his current position.
“[You sign up to] play left tackle, you sign up to play corner, you sign up to play quarterback, you sign up to be the head coach, you get judged. You get scrutinized,” head coach Mike Vrabel said Tuesday, via Mark Daniels of MassLive.com. “Will’s 22 years old. He’s our left tackle. He’ll get better. He’ll get stronger. [He had] moments where he played well, moments where he blocked the guy. There’s plays he’d like to have back.
“We’re not moving Will to guard, or center, or tight end, or anywhere else. So, I don’t know what to tell you.”
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Campbell noted that he tore a ligament in his knee during the regular season — which is what caused him to miss several weeks late in the year. Regardless, Campbell will need to play better in the future to give the Patriots’ offense better opportunities for success.
The house always wins. But sometimes it doesn’t win as much as usual.
Via David Purdum of ESPN.com, Nevada sportsbooks won $9.9 million on $133.8 million in bets involving the Seahawks and the Patriots in Super Bowl LX.
Purdum added that both numbers are “down considerably from last year’s game.”
Indeed they are. Last year, Nevada won a record $22.1 million on $151.6 million in wagers. The handle was a 20-percent drop over the prior year. The Super Bowl LX handle represents an 11.7-percent reduction over Super Bowl LIX.
Last year’s profits flowed largely from parlays based on Eagles running back Saquon Barkley scoring a so-called “anytime touchdown.” He scored a touchdown at no time during the game, killing every three-leg wager that relied on his two legs carrying the football into the end zone.
Generally speaking, the entire Las Vegas experience has been in decline since the floodgates opened for nationwide legalized sports betting. With wagering and casino games now available to be played on a cell phone in most states, what used to happen in Vegas has not stayed in Vegas.
Patriots quarterback Drake Maye was dealing with a right shoulder issue for the Super Bowl, having revealed he received a painkilling injection in it for the game.
But this is apparently not an issue that will linger for much longer.
Via multiple reporters, Maye said in his Tuesday morning press conference that he does not need offseason surgery and that his shoulder should heal with rest.
Much like the rest of the Patriots, Maye struggled for the vast majority of the loss to the Seahawks in Super Bowl LX. But he finished the contest 27-of-43 for 295 yards with two touchdowns, two interceptions, and a lost fumble. He was also New England’s leading rusher with 37 yards on five attempts.
We’ll never know how much Maye’s shoulder did or did not affect him on Sunday. But given the Patriots’ general performance, it likely did not affect the final result.
