The naming of Bad Bunny as the Super Bowl LX Halftime Show performer has led to an incredible amount of wailing and gnashing of teeth from right-wingers offended at the prospect of a Puerto Rican entertainer who sings primarily in Spanish and supports immigrants.
But as political pressure has mounted from Republican officials in power and as Turning Point USA launched its own alternative halftime show, the NFL has stood by Bad Bunny despite some concerns about what this could mean for its business moving forward.
In particular, their upcoming equity deal with ESPN.
The NFL agreed to buy a 10% equity stake in ESPN in exchange for NFL Network and other assets as part of a landmark agreement that could reshape the sports media industry. But it still needs government approval as it faces antitrust scrutiny.
Donald Trump and his supporters are prone to do everything they can to use political pressure and coercion to their personal and strategic benefit. So it’s not out of the question that something like a Super Bowl halftime performer who doesn’t align politically or culturally could potentially derail a billion-dollar business deal.
ESPN’s Kalyn Kahler took a deep dive into the topic with an article this week. In her story, the main takeaway is that NFL owners and Roger Goodell have stood by Bad Bunny because they see his global appeal as advancing their international expansion.
However, at least one owner expressed a concern to the commissioner that Bad Bunny’s halftime show could threaten the ESPN deal.
WITHIN THE NFL, at least one owner met the decision to book Bad Bunny with skepticism, particularly considering the league’s pending agreement to sell the NFL Network and other assets to ESPN in exchange for a 10% stake in the media company.
Shortly after the Bad Bunny announcement, an NFL owner told Goodell that he feared the decision could threaten the government’s antitrust approval of the pending deal, a source with firsthand knowledge of the discussion told ESPN.
“I told Roger he should’ve thought through that better,” the owner said, according to the source.
Bad Bunny as the Super Bowl halftime act does much more good than harm for the NFL, which is obvious to anyone who doesn’t seek an authoritarian government that can crush opposition and diverse voices at its will. And at least the NFL has held firm on this one, not capitulating under mounting political pressure.
But let’s not pretend that the NFL has completely altruistic goals here. We’ve seen Roger Goodell stand willingly beside Donald Trump like everyone else who has chosen to kiss the ring publicly in the last year. Ultimately, as the ESPN article makes clear, Bad Bunny will help the NFL in its stated goals of global expansion. As Patriots owner Robert Kraft has said, the league is already so dominant domestically that it has to look internationally to continue to grow its audience and revenue streams.
That international appeal is the NFL’s next frontier to try to conquer. And the league has clearly made the calculation that it’s worth ruffling a few feathers on the homefront.