Front Office Sports, February 2026
The NFL’s selection of Bad Bunny as the Super Bowl LX halftime performer has become a culture war flashpoint. President Donald Trump called it a “terrible choice,” while the “King of Latin Trap” himself said “ICE out” at the Grammys on Sunday. But the selection is also reflective of the NFL’s business strategy. In recent years, the league has put an emphasis on catering to all demographics while also reaching a global audience. Bad Bunny, a Puerto Rican artist whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, topped Spotify’s 2025 global list of artists; he largely performs in Spanish. His Grammy Award–winning album DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS also topped the list of albums globally.
“You may have people watching the Super Bowl in all of Latin America who usually wouldn’t watch it. As a business decision, this is absolutely brilliant,” Amílcar Barreto, a Northeastern University professor of cultures, societies, and global studies, tells Front Office Sports.
