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Super Bowl XLII, the 42nd annual edition of the Super Bowl in American football, will determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) following the 2007 regular season. The game is scheduled to be played on February 3, 2008 at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. This will be the second time that the Phoenix area will host a Super Bowl game; Super Bowl XXX in January 1996 was played in Tempe’s Sun Devil Stadium, on the campus of Arizona State University.
The game will be contested by the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots. New England will attempt to become the first unbeaten NFL team since the 1972 Miami Dolphins, and the first one since the league expanded to a 16-game regular season in 1978. This game will also be a rematch of the teams’ regular season-ending game on December 29, 2007, in which the Patriots won, 38-35, at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Teams
New England Patriots will enter Super Bowl XLII with an unprecedented 18-0 record, one away from being the first team in 35 seasons to complete a perfect season. The team’s tremendous success had some controversy, as the Patriots were accused of videotaping opponents’ play signals in the first week of the season in what became known as Spygate. Also, some opponents accused the Patriots of running up the score when the game was clearly in hand — something generally considered unsportsmanlike in the NFL.
New York Giant entered the playoffs as a wild-card qualifier, clinching the fifth seed in the NFC. Having their playoff position determined going into the final week of the season, the Giants faced the Patriots as stated in the second paragraph above. Despite the 38-35 loss, the Giants had a strong showing against the Patriots
Referee
Mike Carey has been chosen to be the head referee for this game; this marks the first time that an African-American has been chosen to be the lead official in a Super Bowl.
Entertainment
According to the entertainment publication Variety, the NFL developed a wish list for the halftime performer(s). Among those on the wish list of potential entertainers were Bruce Springsteen, Norah Jones and The Eagles. On August 16, both the NFL and FOX confirmed that American Idol host Ryan Seacrest will serve in that role for the pre-game and halftime shows. On Willie Nelson’s official website it states that he will be performing for a pre-game tailgate party.
On December 2, 2007, it was officially announced that Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers would be the halftime entertainment with Bridgestone as the show sponsor. American Idol Season Six winner and native Phoenican Jordin Sparks will sing the National Anthem. Continuing the American Idol-izing of the Super Bowl, one of the show’s judges, Paula Abdul, will debut her first music video in over a decade which she made with fellow judge Randy Jackson as part of FOX’s pregame coverage to kickoff her official comeback. On January 16, 2008, TMZ confirmed that Abdul has started rehersals, and also stated that Soulja Boy will also be present.
Broadcasting
The game will be televised in the United States on FOX, and will be called by Joe Buck and Troy Aikman[3], with Pam Oliver and Chris Myers working as the sideline reporters for this game. The pre-game will be handled by the FOX NFL Sunday pregame show team led by Curt Menefee, joined by Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long and Jimmy Johnson. Official pre-game coverage will start at 2 PM US EST, with preliminary events, including NFL Films’ Road to the Super Bowl highlight show starting at 12 Noon.
In Canada, CTV has acquired the rights to the game, ending Global’s longtime coverage.
In the United Kingdom, the BBC have acquired the rights to show the game live on BBC Two, ending ITV Sport’s coverage which began in 2005. Sky Sports will once again broadcast the game in High Definition.
In Mexico, Televisa and TV Azteca will broadcast the game in Spanish including their first HD broadcast. In Brazil, BandSports will broadcast the game. In Poland, Canal+ will broadcast Super Bowl XLII. In Australia, SBS will brodcast the game live on free-to-air TV.
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