Bad Bunny doesn't need the NFL as much as the NFL needs him
Feb 11, 2026
Washington [US], February 11: If you've spent any time online, you've probably heard the phrase "you don't know ball" used to point out a lack of knowledge.
It seems that some of those complaining most loudly about Bad Bunny being picked to headline the Super Bowl LX halftime show don't know ball.
At least, they don't seem to know that the National Football League (NFL) is not new to global superstars, nor controversy.
The Puerto Rican "DeBi TiRAR MaS FOToS" singer's selection has come with both - but will also bring more eyes from around the world onto the sport in a way the league has been craving.
The NFL's quest to bolster its international fan base has been the driving force behind having more games played abroad, according to Sam Sanders, host of KCRW's "The Sam Sanders Show."
The league has been "seeing what's happening with FIFA and with the World Cup and the way that soccer is truly an international sport and saying, 'We want that too,'" he told CNN.
For the 2026 football season, the NFL has announced regular season games to be played in London, Madrid, Melbourne, Mexico City, Munich, Paris and Rio de Janeiro.
The six international games aired in 2025 on the NFL Network - which included games in Dublin, London, Berlin and Madrid - averaged 6.2 million viewers across television and digital, according to Nielsen figures shared by the league.
That's the highest season viewership average for international games on record, they added.
But they want more, and the easiest way to do that? "Have the biggest pop star in the world, who happens to sing in Spanish and is big globally, play your halftime show," Sanders said.
To Jorell A. Melendez-Badillo, a historian and author of "Puerto Rico: A National History" whose historical writings about the territory were incorporated into Bad Bunny's YouTube content, it makes sense.
"I think it was a marketing decision on behalf of the NFL - to have a Spanish-speaking artist that just so happens to be the biggest star in the world," he told CNN.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Cooperation
