The world chuckled at the arrogance of the NFL when reports came out that it had given a suggestion to potential Super Bowl Pepsi Halftime Show headliners Katy Perry, Coldplay and Rihanna that they might consider paying the leaguer for the right to perform at the 2015 event. Perry, the eventual act chosen for the February 1 game, reports to Rolling Stone that she did not pony up for the gig.
"I put my foot down very early in the courtship," she said. "I said, 'Look guys, here's where I draw a line in the sand.' I want to be invited on my own merits and not with some fine print."
The NFL isn't entirely off-base in its train-of-thought. The Super Bowl Halftime Show is undoubtedly the biggest platform on Earth for a musician. Bruno Mars and his guests the Red Hot Chili Peppers had an audience of more than 115.3 million when they performed at 2014's big game. That tops the average number of viewers who were watching the game at any given time (111.5 million). The Super Bowl, for all of its moral ambiguities revealed in recent years, is good at making money and performers shouldn't be surprised they'd try to go for more.
The logic that a Super Bowl performance boosts touring numbers is off-base however. Mars brought in $43 million from touring following his show but Beyoncé, who drew fewer viewers for her 2013 halftime performance, still brought $180 million later that year. The Super Bowl might boost downloads and album sales for a few weeks afterward but the size of the stars on display ensures ticket sales by itself.
More interesting to most readers: What can we expect from Perry's performance this year? The vocalist broke it down as 12 minutes of music broken down into two "worlds." She didn't guarantee any one song, but she did reference "Roar" and "Firework" while describing herself as the perfect performer for the event. Billboard points out the performer tweeted a 2011 video where a troupe of almost nude dancers cavort around a stage, with the caption "Deep in SB rehearsals."
