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Length of the national anthem (126.5 seconds)
The singing of the national anthem provides players with the chance to reflect on their achievement of making it to the Super Bowl. It’s also our first opportunity to make a bet.
The line for this year’s rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner is 126.5 seconds, which is relatively high compared to recent years.
Last year’s anthem, sung by country music artist Mickey Guyton, clocked in at just 01:49 – the shortest rendition in over a decade. In fact, five of the last six anthems have fallen short of 127 seconds, and the average time over the past 20 years has been just 01:55.
Unfortunately, there isn’t much intel to be gained on this year’s performer, singer-songwriter Chris Stapleton. A sweep of YouTube reveals no previous examples of him belting out the anthem.
He seems like a relatively no-nonsense performer, though, who won’t try to extend his moment in the spotlight with excessive warbling. Take the under.
Best bet: Under 126.5 seconds 11/10
Coin toss
We’re not going to offer a tip on the pre-game coin toss, but if you do fancy betting on how the coin will fall, it’s worth knowing the history.
In the past 20 years, heads and tails have each come up 10 times each. What are the chances?
Tails has come up four times in a row on two occasions – 2003 to 2006 and 2014 to 2017 – while heads went on a five-year streak between 2009 and 2013.
Heads has dominated in recent years, landing on four of the last five occasions, but perhaps tails is due a resurgence.
Interestingly, the last eight Super Bowl winners all lost the coin toss, so it might be worth seeing who wins the toss on Sunday before backing the other side.
First song of the halftime show
Rihanna headlines this year’s halftime show in what will be her first live performance in over five years.
Recent halftime shows have seen Dr Dre open with The Next Episode, The Weeknd kick off with Starboy and Shakira take to the stage with She Wolf.
With Rihanna’s vast back catalogue of bangers, this year’s market for the first song of the performance looks wide open.
Don’t Stop The Music is the current favourite, but doesn’t offer much value at 1/1. Umbrella and Diamonds are perhaps Rihanna’s most iconic songs, but both profile more as closers than openers.
The best value looks to be What’s My Name? at 5/1. The 6x Platinum single from the 2010 album Loud is one of Rihanna’s biggest hits, and the famous “Oh na-na” refrain is instantly recognisable.
Best bet: What’s My Name? 5/1
Colour of Gatorade shower
Closing out the Super Bowl novelty markets is the traditional Gatorade shower for the winning head coach.
This market has been dominated by two colours in particular in recent years, with blue landing three times in the last four Super Bowls and orange on five occasions since 2010.
Orange looks the way to go this time around. That was the winning colour when the Kansas City Chiefs won Super Bowl LIV in 2020, which gives it the edge considering they’re also in this year’s Super Bowl.
If the Chiefs come out on top on Sunday, expect to see coach Andy Reid engulfed in an orange wave again.
Best bet: Orange 9/4