This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. Jared Bahir Browsh is an Assistant Teaching Professor of Critical Sports Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Donald Trump, it is fair to assume, will be switching channels during this year鈥檚 Super Bowl halftime show.
The U.S. president has already said that he , suggesting that the venue, Levi鈥檚 Stadium in Santa Clara, California, was 鈥渏ust too far away.鈥� But the choice of celebrity entertainment planned for the main break 鈥� Puerto Rican reggaeton star Bad Bunny and recently announced pregame addition Green Day 鈥� didn鈥檛 appeal. 鈥淚鈥檓 anti-them. I think it鈥檚 a terrible choice. All it does is sow hatred. Terrible,鈥� .
National Football League Commissioner likely didn鈥檛 have the sensibilities of the U.S. president in mind when the choice of Bad Bunny was made.
One of the top artists in the world, Bad Bunny performs primarily in Spanish and has been critical of immigration enforcement, which factored into the to the choice. Bad Bunny鈥檚 will have only stoked the ire of some conservatives.
But for the NFL hierarchy, this was likely a business decision, not a political one. The league has its eyes on expansion into Latin America; Bad Bunny, they hope, will be a ratings-winning means to an end. It has made such bets in the past. In 2020, were chosen to perform, with Bad Bunny making an appearance. The choice then, too, was .
Shakira and Bad Bunny perform during the Pepsi Super Bowl LIV Halftime Show on Feb. 2, 2020, in Miami, Fla.
Raising the flag overseas
As a , I study the global growth of U.S.-based sports leagues overseas.
Some, like the National Basketball Association, are at an advantage. The sport is played around the globe and in Asia 鈥� notably in the Philippines and China 鈥� as well as in Europe, Australia and Canada.
The NFL, by contrast, is largely entering markets that have comparatively .
The league has opted for a multiprong approach to attracting international fans, including lobbying to get into the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Playing the field
When it comes to the traditional tackle game, the NFL has held . Between 1950-1961, before they merged, the NFL and American Football League played seven games against to strengthen the relationship between the two nations鈥� leagues.
Developing a fan base south of the border has long been part of the plan.
The first international exhibition game between two NFL teams . But Mexican protest over the economy and cost of staging the Olympics that year led the game, between the Detroit Lions and Philadelphia Eagles, to be canceled.
Instead, it was Montreal that staged the first international exhibition match the following year.
In 1986, the NFL added an annual international preseason game, the 鈥�,鈥� to reach international fans, including several games in Mexico City and one in Monterrey.
But the more concerted effort was to grow football in the potentially lucrative, and familiar, European market.
After several attempts by the NFL and other entities in the 1970s and 鈥�80s to establish an international football league, the NFL-backed World League of Football launched in 1991. Featuring six teams from the United States, one from Canada and three from Europe, the spring league lost money but provided evidence that there was a market for American football in Europe, leading to the establishment of .
But NFL bosses have long had wider ambitions. The league staged 13 games in Tokyo, beginning in 1976, and planned exhibitions for 2007 and 2009 in . These attempts did not have the same success as in Europe.
Beyond exhibitions
The NFL鈥檚 outreach in Latin America has been decades in the making. After six exhibition matches in Mexico between 1978 and 2001, the NFL chose Mexico City as the venue of its first regular season game outside the United States.
In 2005, it pitted the Arizona Cardinals against the San Francisco 49ers at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. Marketed as 鈥�,鈥� it drew the largest attendance spectators.
The following year, Goodell was named commissioner and announced that the NFL would focus future international efforts on regular-season games.
The U.K. was a safe bet due to the established stadium infrastructure and the country鈥檚 small but . The NFL International Series was played exclusively in .
But in 2016, the NFL finally returned to Mexico City, staging a regular-season game between the Oakland 鈥� now Las Vegas 鈥� Raiders and Houston Texans.
And after the completion of upgrades to Latin America鈥檚 largest stadium, Estadio Azteca, the NFL will return to , along with games in Munich, Berlin and London. Future plans include expanding the series to include Sydney, Australia, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2026.
The program also offers players from outside the United States an opportunity to train and earn a roster spot on an NFL team. The hope is that future Latin American players could help , similar to how after joining the Houston Rockets, and Shohei Ohtani did the same for baseball in Japan while playing in Los Angeles.
Heading south of the border
The NFL鈥檚 strategy has gained the league a foothold in Latin America.
Mexico and Brazil have become the two largest international markets for the NFL, with nearly .
Although this represents a fraction of the overall sports fans in each nation, the raw numbers match the overall . In recent years the NFL has celebrated Latino Heritage Month through its campaign, highlighting Latino players past and present.
Latin America also offers practical advantages. Mexico has as the southern neighbor to the United States, with the Dallas Cowboys among the most popular teams in Mexico.
For broadcasters, Central and South America offer less disruption in regards to time zones. Games in Europe for West Coast fans, whereas Mexico City follows Central time, and Brasilia time is ahead of Eastern time.
Bad Bunny poses with the Album of the Year, Best M煤sica Urbana Album and Best Global Music Performance awards during the 68th Grammy Awards on Feb. 1, 2026, in Los Angeles. The NFL鈥檚 expansion plans are not without criticism. Domestically, means one less home game for season-ticket holders. And some teams have .
Another criticism is the league, which has 鈥� nearly double any other U.S.-based league 鈥� is using its resources to displace local sports. There are also those who see expansion of the . These criticisms often intersect with long-held ideas around the .
Bad Bunny: No Hail Mary attempt
For sure, the choice of Bad Bunny as the halftime pick is controversial, given the current political climate around immigration. The artist removed tour dates on the U.S. mainland in 2025 due to concerns about , a concern reinforced by threats from the Department of Homeland Security that they .
But in sticking with Bad Bunny, the NFL is showing it is willing to face down a section of its traditional support and bet instead on Latin American fans not just tuning in for the halftime show but for the whole game 鈥� and falling in love with football, too.
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