By Tony Reid
For many fans it is the biggest event on the sporting calendar, not the Super Bowl final itself, but the halftime entertainment.
This year the act was Madonna and her moves included some that quarterbacks could only dream of.
At 53 she is probably the oldest cheerleader to perform in a Super Bowl and Madonna did not disappoint.
The superstar's 12-minute set featured a mixture of old and new, including the first single from her new album due for release in March.
It may surprise you to learn that she was not paid a cent to perform.
Halftime show acts never are; the exposure to a television audience of up to 150 million people is considered enough.
Those who did pay were car makers like Chevy. $4.2 million for a 30 second spot, or, $140,000 a second.
Car makers were the biggest spenders and they attracted some of the biggest names in show business.
In one ad for Honda Jerry Seinfeld strives to be the first owner of a new sports car but Jay Leno swoops in to claim the prize.
In another, Matthew Broderick pulls a ‘sickie’ to drive his Honda around for two minutes and 15 seconds, making it a $19 million Super Bowl ad – if there was no discounting.
Coca Cola broke new ground with its polar bears chatting with viewers on Twitter and Facebook.
Super Bowl is thought to be the biggest television programme in the world. Forty percent of American televisions will tune in. Some of them just for Madonna.
At four million dollars for a 30 second ad, the queen of pop's 12 minute show was worth about $100 million of free advertising.
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