Two weeks after Championship Sunday determined which teams would advance onto the biggest game of the NFL season, the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots will face off in the Super Bowl.
This year marks the Patriots‘ record-extending 12th appearance in the Super Bowl. They last appeared in the big game in 2018 when they won their sixth and final title of the Brady and Belichick era. MVP candidate quarterback Drake Maye and first-year head coach Mike Vrabel turned the Patriots around, going from one of the worst teams in the league during the 2024-25 season to 14-3 and Super Bowl bound in one year.
super bowl 2026: what to know
- Who: Seattle Seahawks vs. New England Patriots
- When: Feb. 8, 6:30 p.m. ET
- Where: Levi’s Stadium (Santa Clara, California)
- Channel: NBC
- Streaming: DIRECTV (try it free)
The Seahawks also finished 14-3 this season to advance to their fourth Super Bowl in franchise history. While the team intended to sign Geno Smith as quarterback ahead of the 2025 season, contract disputes led to the Seahawks signing free agent (and former New York Jets draft pick) Sam Darnold. Darnold threw for 4,048 yards and 25 touchdowns this season, along with recording a career-high completion percentage.
When is the Super Bowl 2026?
The 2026 Super Bowl is scheduled to kick off at 6:30 p.m. ET tonight, Feb. 8
Where is Super Bowl 2026?
The Super Bowl will be held at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, the home stadium of the San Francisco 49ers.
How to watch and stream Chiefs vs. Eagles for free:
If you don’t have cable, you’ll need a live TV streaming service to stream the Super Bowl for free.
DIRECTV is our favorite service for watching TV live for free — it has a five-day free trial and there are a ton of options for plans that include NBC, including genre packs that offer more flexibility at lower price points. NBC is part of the MySports ($69.99/month) genre pack, and the more affordable MyNews ($34.99/month) pack.
Meet the broadcast crew:
Mike Tirico, the lead play-by-play voice of Sunday Night Football, will call the play-by-play for his first Super Bowl tonight just ahead of a two-week stint in Milan for the Winter Olympics. Analyst Cris Collinsworth will be in the booth for his sixth Super Bowl.
Melissa Stark and Kaylee Hartung will serve as the game’s sideline reporters, while three-time Super Bowl referee Terry McAulay will provide rules analysis.
Before the game kicks off, Maria Taylor will lead studio coverage with Jac Collinsworth and Noah Eagle, alongside Super Bowl champion analysts Tony Dungy, Jason Garrett, Rodney Harrison, and Devin McCourty.
What to know about the matchup:
The big game features two teams — the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks — that finished the regular season with identical 14–3 records. Seattle captured the NFC title and continues its postseason momentum with a winning streak dating back to Week 12, while New England returns to the Super Bowl for the first time since the end of the Brady-Belichick era.
A key theme in this year’s Super Bowl matchup is defense vs. offense: the Seahawks boast one of the league’s best defenses, while the Patriots’ offense has found ways to produce explosive plays (8th in the NFL) despite averaging relatively modest point totals in the postseason.
Super Bowl LX is also a rematch of 2015’s Super Bowl XLIX, memorable for the Patriots’ last-minute victory over Seattle.
Sportsbooks favor the Seahawks by a 4.5-point spread.
Who is performing the National Anthem? Who is performing the Super Bowl Halftime Show?
Bay area-based punk band Green Day will kick things off with a pregame performance.
Pop singer Charlie Puth will perform the National Anthem ahead of Super Bowl 2026, accompanied by American Sign Language performer Fred Beam. Folk musician Brandi Carlisle will belt out “America the Beautiful” and Coco Jones will sing “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” known as the “Black national anthem.”
Fresh off his historic Album of the Year win at the 2026 Grammys, Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny will headline the 2026 Super Bowl Halftime Show. He’ll make more history as the first solo Latino artist to headline a halftime show.
Why Trust Post Wanted by the New York Post
This article was written by Angela Tricarico, Commerce Streaming Reporter for Post Wanted Shopping, Page Six, and Decider.com. Angela keeps readers up to date with cord-cutter-friendly deals, and information on how to watch your favorite sports teams, TV shows, and movies on every streaming service. Not only does Angela test and compare the streaming services she writes about to ensure readers are getting the best prices, but she’s also a superfan specializing in the intersection of shopping, tech, sports, and pop culture. When she’s not writing about (or watching) TV, movies, and sports, she’s also keeping up on the underrated perfume dupes at Bath & Body Works and testing headphones. Prior to joining Decider and The New York Post in 2023, she wrote about streaming and consumer tech at Insider Reviews.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
