Jay-Z, U2 and ‘Star Wars' headline NFL's next big entertainment events

The NFL's next big games are getting an unusually heavy dose of entertainment.

U2 is slated to headline halftime of the league's first Thanksgiving Eve game next month, while Jay-Z will reportedly headline Super Bowl LXI in February. The Super Bowl will also get an animated alternate broadcast that places the game in the "Star Wars" universe.

All three developments were announced this week, and two of them will take place at the same stadium: SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.

U2 is scheduled to perform Nov. 25, when the Green Bay Packers visit the Los Angeles Rams in the NFL's first Thanksgiving Eve game. The matchup will kick off at 5 p.m. and stream on Netflix.

The performance will mark U2's return to an NFL halftime stage more than two decades after the band played Super Bowl XXXVI in New Orleans in 2002. That show, staged several months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, included "Beautiful Day," "MLK" and "Where the Streets Have No Name."

The timing also coincides with a milestone for the Irish rock band, which formed in Dublin in 1976 and is celebrating its 50th anniversary. U2 plans to release its 16th studio album, "Carnaval de Luz," on Nov. 13 and launch a world tour in 2027.

Netflix has increasingly made its NFL holiday broadcasts into entertainment events.

Beyoncé headlined the streaming service's first Christmas Day NFL halftime show in 2024, followed by Snoop Dogg in 2025.

Meanwhile, Super Bowl LXI is scheduled for Feb. 14 at SoFi Stadium, and Puck reported Tuesday, Oct. 20, that Jay-Z has selected himself to headline the halftime show. The report cited multiple sources but had not been confirmed by the NFL or Roc Nation.

If confirmed, it would be Jay-Z's first time headlining the Super Bowl halftime show.

Jay-Z's Roc Nation has helped oversee and produce the NFL's Super Bowl halftime entertainment since the a full-service entertainment and sports management company partnered with the league in 2019. 

The rap icon is currently marking the anniversaries of two of his albums, "Reasonable Doubt" and "The Blueprint," with a series of stadium shows. He is scheduled to perform at SoFi Stadium on Friday, Oct. 23, and Saturday, Oct. 24, giving him another high-profile appearance at the venue several months before the Super Bowl.

Aside from music, the championship game will have another entertainment option that has nothing to do with the halftime stage.

ESPN, Lucasfilm and the NFL announced Monday, Oct. 19, that Super Bowl LXI will receive an animated alternate telecast called "Star Wars Funday Football." The program will recreate every play of the game in real time, turning NFL players into animated avatars inside the "Star Wars" universe.

Characters from across the Lucasfilm franchise will appear during the broadcast, including C-3PO, who will be voiced by original "Star Wars" cast member Anthony Daniels.

The alternate presentation will stream live on Disney+ and the ESPN App, and air on Disney Channel and Disney XD. It will be produced using player-tracking data from the NFL's Next Gen Stats and Sony's Hawk-Eye technology.

"Star Wars Funday Football" will be the first animated alternate presentation of a Super Bowl. It follows ESPN, Disney and the NFL's previous "Funday Football" broadcasts built around "Toy Story," "The Simpsons" and "Monsters" franchises.

The "Star Wars" version also arrives as Lucasfilm celebrates 50 years of the epic space opera. A newly restored version of the original 1977 "Star Wars" is scheduled to return to theaters five days after the Super Bowl.

Subscribe

This article originally published at Jay-Z, U2 and ‘Star Wars' headline NFL's next big entertainment events.