Super Bowl Focus: US Players Sleepless in Milan

The 2026 Milan/Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics are in full swing. The eyes of people around the world are focused on ice and snow fields. The American squad is different. Even from far away in Italy, their eyes are focused on TV. This is because the National Football League (NFL) Super Bowl (finals), the largest sporting event in the United States, is approaching.

The 60th Super Bowl will be held at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, USA at 8:30 am (Korean time) on the 9th. The Seattle Seahawks, the first seed in the National Football Conference (NFC), and the New England Patriots, the second seed in the American Football Conference (AFC), will face off. This is the first return match in 11 years. Seattle and New England also faced each other in the 49th Super Bowl in 2015. At that time, Seattle chose to pass rather than give the ball to a running back with 1 yard left just before the end of the game, and was intercepted by New England cornerback Malcolm Butler, giving up the championship trophy to New England. Now, Seattle has won its second Super Bowl since 2014, and New England, which won the most Super Bowls six times, the most ever, led by legendary quarterback Tom Brady (retired), is attempting to regain the throne for the first time in six years.

Many of the U.S. athletes at the Winter Olympics are NFL fanatics or have hometowns in New England or Seattle. There is no way to miss this year’s Super Bowl, which has more stories than usual. The problem is time difference. This Super Bowl kicks off at 0:30 a.m. on the 9th, Italian local time. It is time for players to go to bed to adjust their condition before the game the next day. Jack DiGregorio, the U.S. luge national team member, is a representative New England fanatic. A Massachusetts native, he has a deep connection to the team, as his mother worked as a team employee for over 20 years. In an interview with the Associated Press, DiGregorio expressed his will to be a live shooter, saying, “If I wake up to go to the bathroom, I can sneakily turn on the game.”

This year’s U.S. Olympic team includes 15 people from Massachusetts, home to New England, and 8 people from Washington state, home to Seattle. Corey Dropkin, the U.S. national curling team member, said, “I won’t be able to watch the game because it’s too late, but I will wear my New England uniform and cheer on while sleeping.” Charlie McAvoy of the U.S. men’s ice hockey team said, “I’m considering going to bed early and waking up at 5 a.m. to watch the second half of the game.” This is the second time in history that the Super Bowl and Winter Olympics schedules overlap, following the 2022 Beijing Games. This is because the NFL regular season schedule is longer than in the past. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is also concerned about the clash of major sporting events. IOC President Kirsty Coventry said, “Large events are overlapping with each other,” and pointed out, “It is time for the sports world to discuss as a family how to coordinate schedules and not compete with each other.”

This year’s Super Bowl victory, which is a thrill for U.S. Winter Olympic athletes, is expected to depend on the quarterback battle. Sam Darnold (29), the icon of ‘life turnaround’ who leads Seattle, brought the team to the top of the NFC with 4,200 yards passing and 35 touchdowns in the regular season. The quarterback-wide receiver chemistry from Darnold to Jackson Smith is the best in the league. Darnold, an eight-year professional, was a rookie who entered the NFL in 2018 with great expectations. But it never saw the light. In the past, he was treated as a failed prospect by the New York Jets and Carolina Panthers. Afterwards, he played for four teams over the next seven years, including the San Francisco 49ers and Minnesota Vikings, until last season. However, his skills were in full bloom when he changed into the Seattle uniform this season.

On the other hand, New England has high hopes for the mettle of second-year rookie quarterback Drake May (24). May is the next-generation ‘midfield commander’ for New England, which has suffered from the absence of a quarterback for a long time since Tom Brady. He led the team to 14 wins in the regular season with his strong shoulders and calm game management skills that come from his tall height (1m93cm). The analysis is that if star running back Ramondre Stevenson maintains his usual condition, he will make up for May’s only weakness, which is his lack of experience. Local gamblers and foreign media predict Seattle will have the upper hand. Caesars Sportsbook set Seattle’s winning odds at -200 (you have to bet $200 to win $100) and New England’s odds at +170 (if you bet $100, you win $170, for a total of $270). Also, handicap betting predicted that Seattle would lead by 4.5 points. This means that experts expect Seattle to win by 4 to 5 points.

The economic impact of the Super Bowl is also astronomical. American media estimated that this Super Bowl will have an economic ripple effect of more than $500 million (730 billion won) in Santa Clara, the host city, and the nearby San Francisco area. The unit price of TV advertising also broke an all-time high, with the advertising cost per 30 seconds approaching $8 million (KRW 11.6 billion). This is 213 times the $37,500 (54 million won) advertising cost for the first Super Bowl in 1967. According to USA Today, some brands paid more than $10 million (KRW 14.5 billion), ushering in the ’10 million dollar’ era. The average ticket price is currently $4,500 (6.5 million won). The halftime show, which is as popular as the game, will be performed by Bad Bunny, a world-famous Latin pop star from Puerto Rico. Bunny is a superstar who became the first Latin singer to win ‘Album of the Year’ at the 68th Grammy Awards held on the 2nd. There is interest in whether U.S. President Donald Trump will watch the Super Bowl this year as he did last year.

Reporter Pi Joo-young akapj@joongang.co.kr