Super Bowl Opening Night: Spectacle joins sport ahead of Seahawks-Patriots
The kickoff to Super Bowl week played out on Monday in the Bay Area.
It started with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s state-of-the-union address in the afternoon, and the night was punctuated by Super Bowl Opening Night.
Which is to say, equal parts media session question-and-answer moments to the typical full-on carnival scene. The San Jose Convention Center was a crunch of humanity, be it fans who poured in for a peek, held back by barriers. Fans held their cell phones high and tried to get selfies. Many were decked in jerseys representing their team: the Seattle Seahawks or the New England Patriots.
On the grand stage, the Patriots cheerleaders were introduced first to a sea of camera lights. Then the entire Patriots team took the stage, not in uniforms and helmets but in NFL-issued sweatsuits with their jersey number and team logo, and they did so, fittingly, to the sound of Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train.”
Some 90 minutes later, it was Seattle’s turn to take the stage, and more bells, whistles, glitter and gloss. Then it was another free-for-all for the media to get a sound bite, to grab a morsel of information or insight, anything better than, “we take it day by day” or “it is what it is.”
The Super Bowl always drips with intrigue, including the path plowed by teams that before the season were listed as 60-1 odds to get here. This season will cap Seattle’s 50th year in the NFL, New England’s 12th trip to the title game, and Seattle’s 4th.
For every serious question a reporter poses, there’s liable to be someone in a chicken suit - we think that’s what it was - asking players everything off topic. This included wondering about a player’s favorite musical artist, their fast-food joint of choice or favorite color growing up.
One reporter wore a Seahawks jersey - no conflict of interest there, right? - and tried to quiz Patriots players. He was greeted by puzzled expressions.
Another, dare we say, “reporter” with a backward cap and dark glasses, told a Patriots player, “Man, I’m so proud of you!” No questions offered in that one-on-one scrum. Just fanboy stuff. Patriots receiver Stefon Diggs was asked to rank his favorite songs from female rapper Cardi B, offering suggestions on a poster. Diggs did not immediately answer as we peeled off to see what the fellow in the chicken suit was up to.
Whoever squeezed into the Seahawks mascot outfit deserves a game ball for energy alone. The mascot bounced around the venue, high-fiving, taking selfies with fans, and holding up a sign that read, “Who is your fav mascot?”
Across the room, Seattle quarterback Sam Darnold was handed a ham-shaped hat that he placed on his head, and that started a “Ham for Sam!” chant.
Media Day Super rise
This sort of carnival feel hasn’t always been the norm. In the early years of the Super Bowl, there was no official “Media Day” leading up to the big game. Reporters in the late 1960s were invited by teams or players to meet them in their hotel room, or at an eatery, or by the pool to chat.
By the 1970s, the NFL had added a photo session, moving such events to hotel ballrooms. The NFL 40 years ago for Super Bowl XX in New Orleans, became a combined and shared media experience — all players and coaches made available to the media at one location. By the late 1990s and early 2000s, when something called the World Wide Web became the craze, the NFL made Super Bowl Week an event and a spectacle.
This is the 10th year of the rebranded Super Bowl Opening Night. This change happened before the 50th Super Bowl, which was held at Levi’s Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers, the same venue as Sunday’s game. The NFL went simple that season, calling it Super Bowl 50 as compared to the decades-long tradition of using Roman numerals.
Super Bowl 50 in a Roman numeral look would have been a block L, and the NFL didn’t want the standalone “L” to come across as aesthetically unappealing with some viewing it as “Loss” or “Loser”.
‘Safest big city in the country’
Opening Night’s first guest was San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, who took the microphone and deemed this “the biggest sporting event in the world”. He added that the Bay Area this week is the “epicenter of the sports world”.
The NFL has fan-engagement events scheduled this week in San Francisco, San Jose and Santa Clara.
The NFL is branding this week as a Bay Area event with a Northern California reach. The backdrop on the Opening Night stage was a massive Super Bowl LX emblem with the chrome Lombardi trophy, the Golden Gate Bridge, trees, mountains and a silhouette of the San Francisco skyline.
Mahan, the San Jose Mayor said before exiting the stage that “San Jose is the safest big city in the country” and concluded that the Bay Area “is the best place on Earth to live, work and play.”
However, the Convention Center was not the easiest place to work. The global media contingent arriving at Levi’s Stadium on Sunday is expected to exceed 6,000, and it felt like a good many of them were on hand for Opening Night.
Those with hand-held cameras had it a bit easier than those packing bulky TV cameras and the even-more bulky tripods needed to hold those things.
Opening Night becomes something of a strategic maneuver for television folks, be it locally or nationally. A tripod takes up space, as does a reporter, and space is at a premium in front of seats for top names, such as Patriots coach Mike Vrabel or Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald.
Herding frightened goats might be an easier task than tracking down a player of interest who isn’t planted at a podium.
“Opening night is the definition of a wild time,” said Jake Gadon, a sports anchor for CBS13 in Sacramento.
Moments later, CBS13 cameraman Mark Willis set up his tripod and elevated high enough to shoot over the masses so he could capture players on the main stage. That Willis is about 6-foot-3 didn’t hurt, either.
“Height is a premium, and thank God Mark has it,” said CBS13 sports anchor Brandon Benitez.
What we learned
Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels was asked if quarterback Drake Maye, listed as “questionable” for the Super Bowl with a tender right shoulder, might be slowed this week.
Said the coach, “Nope.”
Maye said the shoulder “felt great”, an upgrade from “nope.”
Maye said he was a “big fan of Aaron Rodgers”, the longtime NFL quarterback who has a Super Bowl ring from his Green Bay Packers days. He added, “He’s such a special thrower of the football. He’s go so much swag.”
Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said his team will wear their road white jerseys on Sunday because you don’t break from a good vibe. The Patriots are 9-0 on the road this season.
This story was originally published February 2, 2026 at 8:06 PM with the headline "Super Bowl Opening Night: Spectacle joins sport ahead of Seahawks-Patriots."