Chiefs bid for immortality - countdown to Super Bowl 59 begins

Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce are preparing for their fifth Super Bowl in six years

Super Bowl 59

Date: Sunday, 9 February, 2025 Kick-off: 23:30 GMT

BBC coverage: Live text coverage on the BBC Sport website and app, and live radio commentary on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra and BBC Sounds, plus post-game video highlights

It seems fitting that Kansas City's quest for Super Bowl history culminates in New Orleans on Sunday.

For the second time in three years, the Chiefs will face the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL's championship game.

This time, though, the Chiefs are aiming to complete an unprecedented feat, to become the first team to win three straight Super Bowls.

And their bid for NFL immortality will take place in what many see as not just in the greatest Super Bowl city but the most unique city in the USA.

The food, culture and party atmosphere of New Orleans are why the NFL keeps bringing its showpiece event back down to the Big Easy.

Super Bowl 59 will be the city's 11th Super Bowl - tying the record with Miami - and the stage is set for another football festival on the Bayou.

What is a three-peat and has it been achieved at the Super Bowl before?

In the major US sports leagues, a three-peat is when a team becomes national champions three years running.

It has been done five times in both basketball's NBA and ice hockey's NHL, and four times in Major League Baseball.

The Green Bay Packers have achieved two three-peats in the NFL, sealing the latter by winning the first two Super Bowls in 1967 and 1968, but no team has ever won three straight Super Bowls.

Before the Kansas City dynasty, there had been eight back-to-back champions in the Super Bowl era, with five of them reaching the play-offs the following season.

Three lost in the Conference Championships - effectively the Super Bowl semi-finals - with the Dallas Cowboys the most recent to go that far (1995), so the Chiefs have already gone closer than anyone else to a Super Bowl three-peat.

This is their fifth Super Bowl in six years, with quarterback Patrick Mahomes and coach Andy Reid going for a fourth win.

Who are the favourites to lift the Vince Lombardi Trophy?

Heading into the Conference Championships, Philadelphia were favourites to win Super Bowl 59.

They shared the NFL's best record with Kansas City (15-2) and were at home to Washington, the sixth seed in the NFC Conference.

Led by star running back Saquon Barkley, the Eagles thumped the Commanders, but the Chiefs replaced them as favourites having got past Buffalo and their quarterback Josh Allen, the slight favourite to be named this season's Most Valuable Player.

Philly have no qualms about being underdogs though. They were deemed such throughout their 2018 play-off run and their players celebrated each victory by wearing dog masks.

The Eagles ultimately upset the New England Patriots to win their first Super Bowl.

When they returned to the big game in 2023, they were slight favourites against the Chiefs and narrowly lost a thriller, so Sunday's game will be revenge or repeat.

Both teams arrived in New Orleans on Sunday, including Eagles coach Nick Sirianni

Will Taylor Swift attend the Super Bowl?

In case you missed it, Taylor Swift's boyfriend is Kansas City's star tight end Travis Kelce, which has earned the NFL, and the Chiefs in particular, a legion of new fans.

There was plenty of speculation over whether the music superstar would attend last year's Super Bowl as she was performing in Tokyo the night before, and she made it to Las Vegas in time to watch Kansas City's overtime win over San Francisco.

Swift had actress Blake Lively in her suite that day, while WNBA star Caitlin Clark - a lifelong Chiefs fan - joined her for last month's play-off win over Houston.

Swift is expected to be there again on Sunday, but Philly will have plenty of support among the many celebrities joining the fans and revellers in New Orleans.

Actors Bradley Cooper and Rob McElhenney are lifelong Eagles fans. Some of Kelce's family will be rooting for them too.

He and his older brother Jason were on opposing teams at Super Bowl 57 and Jason, now a TV host and analyst whose wife Kylie is a diehard Eagles fan, has made it clear they will be backing his former team.

Kendrick Lamar won five more Grammys at this year's awards ceremony, where Taylor Swift presented an award to Beyonce

Who is performing the Super Bowl half-time show?

Many of the 120 million TV viewers will be more interested in the half-time show than the game itself, and this year's headliner is American rapper Kendrick Lamar.

The show usually features guest appearances and rumours are circulating about who may join Lamar. So far, SZA is the only other confirmed act, but some hope Swift will appear on stage as Lamar sang on Swift's 2015 hit Bad Blood.

There is certainly bad blood between Lamar and Drake as their long-standing feud intensified last year with the release of Lamar's hit Not Like Us.

Drake has since filed a defamation lawsuit over the song, which won five Grammy awards on Sunday, taking Lamar's overall tally to 22.

There could be more legal ramifications if Lamar, who headlined Glastonbury in 2022, sings the lyrics in question.

That will not please a group of Louisiana legislators, who have complained about recent half-time shows being too "lewd" for their state.

The road to Super Bowl 59 - play-off results

Where is the Super Bowl and what is the stadium capacity?

Super Bowl 59 will take place at the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The stadium hosted its first Super Bowl in 1978 and has staged the NFL's championship game more times than any other stadium (seven).

This year will be the first time since 2013 that the game has been played in New Orleans and the 11th overall.

Home to the New Orleans Saints, the Superdome opened in 1975 so this year's Super Bowl coincides with the stadium's 50th anniversary.

It has a capacity of about 75,000 and underwent a five-year renovation costing $560m (£458.7m), which was completed in time for this season.

How many people watch the Super Bowl?

• The cheapest resale ticket available on Monday cost $3,386 (£2,749)

• Last year's Super Bowl was watched by a TV audience of 123.4 million people in the US, making it the most watched broadcast since the 1969 Moon landing

• Last year's game had 3.4 million unique viewers in the UK - a 48% increase on the year before

• More than 10 TV commercials have sold for a record of more than $8m (£6.4m) for a 30-second slot

• Nearly 68 million American adults (about one in four) bet on last year's Super Bowl, according to the American Gaming Association

• The National Chicken Council predicts that 1.47bn chicken wings will be eaten during the game

• Super Bowl 59 is expected to generate more than $500m (£406m) for the Louisiana economy, with more than 70,000 visitors from out of state

How to follow the Super Bowl on the BBC

The BBC will bring you live text coverage of Super Bowl 59 on Sunday via the BBC Sport website and app.

You can listen to live radio commentary on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra and BBC Sounds from 23:00 GMT, and you can watch post-game video highlights on the BBC website.