Inside the NFL’s Strategy to Monetize Every Second of Super Bowl Week

The Super Bowl has always been a game.

It’s also a retail ecosystem with shoulder pads.

For one Sunday (and increasingly, for a full week), the NFL turns fandom into an add-to-cart lifestyle. Tickets packaged like luxury travel, concerts bundled with hospitality, sponsor activations that behave like pop-up stores, and watch parties engineered to keep you fed, hydrated and emotionally volatile.

If you want the ultimate Super Bowl party—high-end, low-end, bizarre and funny—there’s good news. You can now book your personality.

The scale is the point. Super Bowl viewership reliably sits at national holiday levels, with Nielsen reporting a record U.S. audience of about 127.7 million viewers for Super Bowl LIX in 2025. The NFL has been explicit that the moment travels. It reported a global (non-U.S.) audience of 62.5 million for Super Bowl LVIII, underscoring the league’s international ambitions.

This year, Super Bowl LX lands in the San Francisco Bay Area on Feb. 8 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, meaning the party is no longer a living room decision. It’s an itinerary, a ticketing workflow, and (for the truly committed) a weeklong hospitality strategy.

Listed below are real Super Bowl experiences for maximum die-hard energy.

Don’t just be there; be On Location (official Super Bowl LX hospitality packages)
If your idea of party planning includes the phrase “verified ticket inventory,” start with the NFL’s official hospitality provider. On Location sells Super Bowl LX ticket packages that can include premium hospitality and add-on experiences. (Think curated events rather than “good luck at the gate.”)

Treat Super Bowl Opening Night like a sneaker drop (but for human beings)
On Feb. 2, “Super Bowl Opening Night Fueled by Gatorade” brings the AFC and NFC champions to the San Jose Convention Center for their only public appearance before the game. It’s free, but participation runs through the NFL OnePass app, and entry is first-come, first-served, the most on-brand way possible to gamify access.

Do the Moscone Center triple: Pro Bowl Games + Super Bowl Experience + fan-zone activations
Feb. 3 is the Pro Bowl Games (flag football) at Moscone Center South, now moved into Super Bowl week. Then there’s the Super Bowl Experience (Feb. 3-7), the NFL’s interactive “football theme park,” with autographs, the Vince Lombardi Trophy photo op, and the NFL Shop presented by Visa—aka merch commerce with a halo of destiny. If you want the sponsor-activation bingo card, the experience listings call out brand moments like Wilson’s football factory demo and other on-site retail-style installs.

Make your party a food-and-football crossover episode
On Feb. 7, Taste of the NFL takes over The Hibernia in San Francisco, pitching itself as an NFL-sanctioned culinary event with chefs, wine and spirits, and NFL legends. There’s a philanthropic angle supporting GENYOUth. It’s the rare Super Bowl “party” where your appetizer is also a donation strategy.

Concert, but make it hospitality
On Location’s Studio 60 concert series runs Feb. 6-7 at the Palace of Fine Arts, with headline acts including Sting (Feb. 6) and The Killers (Feb. 7). Packages can include all-inclusive food and beverage, lounge access and meet-and-greet-style moments. It’s the live-entertainment version of upgrading to first class because you might as well.

Turn the pregame into a philanthropic music weekend
From Feb. 5-7, the Bay Area Host Committee’s BAHC Live! Concert Series sets up shop at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, with Ticketmaster distribution and proceeds tied to local impact efforts. If you want to feel virtuous while screaming lyrics, this is your lane.

Go full celebrity-industrial complex
On Feb. 7, “Sports Illustrated The Party Presented by DraftKings” hits Cow Palace, featuring The Chainsmokers and Ludacris, plus brand activations designed to make marketing feel like nightlife. Tickets and presale details live on the official event site because nothing says Super Bowl week like a landing page with urgency copy.

Do football’s Oscars
NFL Honors runs Feb. 5 at the Palace of Fine Arts, hosted by Jon Hamm, and broadcasts across NBC and streaming platforms, including Peacock. It’s the most formal way to celebrate a sport that routinely ends with a Gatorade bath.

Skip the Bay and go full-screen tourism in Las Vegas
If your ideal Super Bowl party includes the “world’s largest sportsbook” as a casual detail, Circa Las Vegas is running its Big Game Bash Feb. 8. Options include Stadium Swim and multiple viewing party formats. For a more polished version of maximalism, Wynn’s Big Game Weekend runs Feb. 6-8, with dedicated watch party programming and VIP-style packages at venues like Charlie’s Sports Bar.

Check out the San Francisco watch party circuit for the low end (and highest vibe)
If your budget is two pitchers and a basket of wings, go where the locals go. The Kezar Pub gets consistent love as a top-tier sports bar in San Francisco, according to the San Francisco Standard. For a bigger-room sports atmosphere, Underdogs Cantina leans into game day positioning right by Oracle Park. If you want your Super Bowl party to include actual punchlines, The Function is a Black-owned comedy club that has hosted Super Bowl watch party programming and promotes RSVP-style events.

The best part (or the most unsettling part, depending on your relationship with capitalism) is that none of this is accidental. Super Bowl week is engineered like a marketplace. There are apps for entry, packages for upgrades, merch embedded in experiences, and sponsors turning activation into entertainment. Your party can be a VIP lounge, a dive bar, a concert, a chef-driven fundraiser or a heated pool with a jumbotron. Each has a different payment flow, a different kind of access, and the same core ritual of watching the biggest game on the biggest stage, while the commerce engine hums in the background like a perfectly tuned kickoff return.