The NFL has seemingly confirmed that it did, in fact, choose Jay-Z as the Halftime Show performer for Super Bowl LXI. The big game will be taking place on February 14, 2027.
Now, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has issued comments on the selection. “So many things go into that as we go into the process, and Jay does his thing,” Goodell said. “We’ve always wanted this to happen at some point. It was something I asked him about at the time when we first started this, and he said, Yeah, we’ll see, let’s see what happens’-but it was clear he wanted it to happen.
“We’ve talked about it a couple of times,” he added. “I think the fact that he’s in his 30th anniversary year of his first album, he just finished his tour, it’s L.A., he’s at that point as the GOAT that he’s ready for it. He was pretty clear: ‘I wanna do it this year.’ I guess I was more excited than anything, maybe a little surprised, because he keeps putting it off a little bit. But I think he’s already got his vision; he already understands what he wants to do.”
Jay-Z has been a producer of the Super Bowl Halftime Show since 2019
“He’s been so remarkable in helping us elevate the whole Super Bowl halftime show,” Goodell continued. “He’s a genius, and not just a creative genius in a musical sense. His business sense, his sense of timing, his sense of what’s necessary in the world-he’s just got that. I trust him, and I trust his point of view.”
Jay-Z and his Roc Nation company have been producing the Super Bowl Halftime Show since 2019. This makes Goodell’s statement about Jay-Z “putting it off a little bit” very interesting. We can surmise that he wanted to headline the show years ago, but for one reason or another, he chose not to.
In a previous statement, Goodell made it clear that he has always wanted Jay to perform. “When we first reached an agreement with Roc Nation to produce the show, I had just one request,” he said. “That Jay-Z take the stage himself one day, whenever the moment felt right to him.” Well, that moment has arrived.
Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images
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