NFL Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar Come Together for the PEPSI® Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show in Inglewood, CA
The Super Bowl 2022 Halftime Show is expected to cost more than $17 million with tickets costing more than $3,000 per person, but none of that money will be paid to the performers.
The halftime show will be a celebration of hip hop, featuring Mary J. Blige, Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem and Snoop Dogg performing at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, according to the Associated Press.
The cost of the halftime show has not yet been announced, and some surprises have been planned. Dr. Dre said at a press briefing that two deaf musicians, Warren “Wawa” Snipe and Sean Forbes, will be joining in the halftime show as the first-ever deaf performers at a Super Bowl halftime show.
Here’s what you need to know:
Past Super Bowl Halftime Show Costs Have Reached $17 Million & Tickets Cost $3,272.50 Per Person
While the exact price tag of the Super Bowl Halftime Show in 2022 can’t be calculated before it happens and its hefty bills are sent out, the halftime show has a multimillion-dollar budget. The halftime show will also include surprises, Dr. Dre announced at a press conference. Past performances cost the NFL $13 million, according to Esquire, and the most expensive halftime show was The Weeknd performance in 2021 with a $17 million price tag.
The publication reported:
The cost of production, even for just a thirteen-minute segment, can be sky high, with the 2020 performance by Jennifer Lopez and Shakira reportedly costing the NFL approximately $13 million. That figure finances the paychecks of up to 3,000 staffers involved in the production, as well as complicated technical elements of the performance, like a collapsible, 38-part stage, or the massive audio equipment rolled in on 18 carts. Don’t even get us started on the cost of awe-inspiring spectacles, like Katy Perry riding into the stadium on a mechanical golden lion, or Lady Gaga parachuting into her performance from the roof.
SCMP reported a breakdown of previous Super Bowl halftime show costs, and said the most expensive show cost $1 million per minute. The Weeknd’s 2021 Super Bowl Halftime Show performance cost $17 million, the publication reported.
If you’re one of the few people who is watching the halftime show in person, the tickets cost $3,272.50 each, according to the NFL’s hospitality provider. On Location ticket packages for the Super Bowl start with that hefty price tag, and add-ons can make the ticket costs even higher.
The most expensive ticket package, On The Fifty, cost $3,612 and includes a top-shelf open bar and cuisine and a headline performance by The Black Crows.
Most Super Bowl Halftime Show Performers Aren’t Paid, Which Has Drawn Controversy From Unions Representing Lesser-Known Dancers & Other Artists
Today in 1972, the Cowboys defeated the Dolphins by the score of 24–3, to win their first Super Bowl.
Super Bowl VI
Location: Tulane Stadium
MVP: Roger Staubach
Attendance: 81,023
Commercial cost: $86k
Halftime Show: Ella Fitzgerald, Carol Channing, Al Hirt, USMC Drill Team
The NFL pays travel expenses for performers, but the headliners aren’t paid to perform at the halftime show, Esquire reported. The publication wrote:
So what’s in it for performers? Something familiar to freelance writers everywhere: exposure. Performing on one of the world’s biggest, most televised stages can convert into real financial gain in the form of increased music sales (almost 100 million viewers tuned into last year’s game, and even that was the lowest ratings since 2007). When Justin Timberlake performed in 2018, his music sales rose 534% that same day; as for Lady Gaga, sales of her digital catalog spiked 1000% following her 2017 performance.
Esquire reported that the performance is not always lucrative, though, and that other performers like backup dancers are often also unpaid, with their role described as “volunteers.”
This year, a union stepped in, and at least some of the performers will be paid, according to Esquire.
Esquire wrote:
This year, the NFL seems poised to, once again, make the same misjudgment. For a halftime show featuring Mary J. Blige, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, and Eminem, NFL producers recruited hundreds of ‘volunteers’ to take part in 72 hours of unpaid rehearsals. After backlash from the dance community and SAG-AFTRA (the union representing professional dancers), executives from Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, which will produce the halftime show, defended their methods, saying that they’ve contracted 115 paid dancers. But these are stage dancers—whether ‘field cast’ will be paid remains to be seen.
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