Bowl

Don’t start planning any parades just yet. Hold off on those February plans to travel to Santa Clara.

The Rams still have a long way to go make the playoffs and try to advance to the Super Bowl at Levi’s Stadium.

Their 34-10 victory Sunday over the struggling New Orleans Saints at SoFi Stadium was no revelation or landmark win. But the Rams did something important. Something championship-caliber teams are supposed to do: They convincingly dispatched of a weaker opponent before 72,055.

Matthew Stafford passed for four touchdowns, receiver Puka Nacua returned from an ankle injury in spectacular fashion, and the defense dominated again as the Rams won their third game in a row, improved to 6-2 and showed that the Dodgers might not be the only L.A. team hoisting a championship trophy.

“We’ll see if we can continue to do some good stuff like they did,” coach Sean McVay said of the World Series champions.

The Rams’ victory put them atop the NFC West heading into next Sunday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium.

“I like the fact that we’re getting better,” McVay said, adding, “There’s just a good vibe.”

On most fronts, anyway.

The Rams’ first victory over an NFC opponent did not come against the defending Super Bowl-champion Philadelphia Eagles or the rival 49ers, teams the Rams lost to in part because of kicking-game disasters.

Rams coach Sean McVay watches from the sideline during the first half Sunday against the Saints.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

And those issues remain: Joshua Karty missed a field goal and an extra point.

So McVay’s patience with the kicking game is wearing thin. And no team will win a title without a competent one.

McVay once again said he had confidence in Karty, but that was after he said “it can’t continue like this … it’s gone on for too long,” and “it’s not getting better,” among other things.

Can the Rams be a championship team without an adequate placekicking unit?

“No,” McVay said. “It’s going to cost us — it’s cost us already. It’s been a momentum killer. … The harsh truth of it is this is not sustainable.”

But if the Rams solve the kicking issue and stay healthy — Nacua said he would play against the 49ers after leaving the game in the second half because of a chest injury — and McVay can keep his team focused against division opponents and other playoff contenders, the Rams might earn their own parade.

Stafford is positioning himself to lead one.

Already a fixture on NFL career passing lists, the 17th-year pro is enjoying another sensational season.

As he did in 2021, when he passed for 41 touchdowns and led the Rams to a Super Bowl title, Stafford is playing at a level that should have him in the most-valuable-player discussion.

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford passes in front of Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan during the first quarter Sunday.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

On Sunday his two touchdown passes to Davante Adams and one each to Nacua and tight end Tyler Higbee increased Stafford’s season total to 21, with only two interceptions.

Stafford, who passed for five touchdowns in an Oct. 19 rout of the Jacksonville Jaguars, completed 24 of 32 passes for 281 yards and extended to five his streak of games without an interception.

Stafford’s wife and their daughters attended the game wearing No. 22 Dodgers jerseys, a salute to retiring pitcher Clayton Kershaw, Stafford’s high school teammate.

Now Stafford is chasing a second Super Bowl title.

“It’s not like we’ve got it all figured out,” he said, adding, “Got to keep continuing to find ways to put more points on the board.”

Nacua sat out against the Jaguars because of an ankle injury. But he said in the days leading up to the game that he was “feeling fantastic.”

Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua, left, celebrates with wide receiver Davante Adams after catching a touchdown pass in the second quarter Sunday against the Saints.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

He looked like it at the outset, making two catches for first downs to start a drive that ended with Stafford’s touchdown pass to Higbee. The veteran tight end, in an apparent salute to the Dodgers, celebrated by taking an imaginary swing and then doing their post-hit celebration.

Adams then followed his breakout three-touchdown performance against the Jaguars with the first of two more red-zone touchdowns. The 12th-year pro is tied for eighth all time with 111 touchdown catches.

Early in the second quarter, Stafford and Nacua went for the home run, connecting on a 39-yard pass that Nacua hauled in for a touchdown and a 20-3 lead.

Stafford’s short strike to Adams in the third quarter put the game out of reach, and Kyren Williams’ short touchdown run early in the fourth quarter provided the finishing touch.

Williams rushed for 114 yards and Blake Corum ran for 58 on a day when the Rams once again utilized all four tight ends in the pass and run attacks.

Meanwhile, the Rams defense made it rough on Saints rookie quarterback Tyler Shough in his first start.

Several Rams defensive players tackle Saints quarterback Tyler Shough in the second quarter of the Rams’ 34-10 win Sunday at SoFi Stadium.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Lineman Braden Fiske got his first sack of the season, linebacker Nate Landman forced another fumble, and cornerback Emmanuel Forbes Jr. intercepted his first pass as a Ram.

“We’re growing at a great rate,” Landman said, “and we’re going to peak at the right time.”

The game against the Saints was the start of a stretch that includes two home games after the 49ers. Only two remaining nine games — a late November trip to play the Carolina Panthers and a late December trip to play the Atlanta Falcons — will require the Rams to travel farther east than Arizona.

A lot can happen between now and the start of the playoffs. But the Rams look like the Super Bowl contender they were built to be.

Shakira is all in for the Bad Bunny Super Bowl halftime performance, despite ongoing public efforts to replace the Puerto Rican singer with another artist.

In an interview with Variety, the Colombian superstar voiced support for Bad Bunny, who is set to perform on Feb. 8 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.

“It’s about time!” she said.

In 2020, Bad Bunny joined Shakira and Jennifer Lopez on stage during their halftime performance, which marked the first all-Latine show in Super Bowl history — J Balvin was also featured.

“I remember when we did ours that even having part of our set in Spanish was a bold move… Acceptance of Spanish-language music as part of the mainstream has come so far from when I started,” said Shakira, who during the interview reflected on the recent anniversaries of her critically-acclaimed Spanish album “Pies Descalzos” (released in 1995) as well as “Oral Fixation (Vol 1 and 2)” (both released in 2005).

“I hope and like to think that all the times my music was met with resistance or puzzlement from the English-speaking world before it was embraced helped forge the path to where we are now,” Shakira added.

The news that Bad Bunny would headline the major American sporting event has been met with some pushback from conservative figures, including President Trump, who labeled the decision as “crazy” and “absolutely ridiculous” in an interview with Newsmax earlier this month.

One floating petition on Change.org, which has acquired over 54,000 signatures, called for Bad Bunny to be replaced by Texas singer George Strait as a way to “honor American culture.”

The late Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA also announced an alternative halftime show titled, “The All American Halftime Show,” though the conservative organization has not yet announced artists.

Claims that Bad Bunny is not an American artist are factually incorrect: Puerto Rico is an unincorporated U.S. territory and Puerto Ricans are therefore American citizens. Past Super Bowl halftime shows have also featured non-American acts, including the Rolling Stones, U2, Rihanna, Shania Twain and Coldplay, to name a few.

Despite the anti-Bad Bunny buzz, Shakira doubled down on her support of the singer.

“And I’m so proud that Bad Bunny, who represents not only Latin culture but also how important Spanish-language music has become on a global scale and how universal it has become, is getting to perform on the biggest stage in the world,” she said.

“It’s the perfect moment for a performance like this. I can’t wait to watch it.”

ESPN writer Seth Wickersham and Phoebe Schecter explain the thought processes behind the likes of legendary quarterback Tom Brady transforming themselves from backups to Super Bowl winners.

WATCH: The Whole 10 Yards – Being an NFL backup (Available to UK users only)

How much clout does Bad Bunny have?

Enough that certain people are still mad nearly two weeks after it was announced that the “Nuevayol” singer — one of the most popular and consequential artists on the planet, someone who can single-handedly boost local economies — will be the halftime performer during Super Bowl LX, to be held Feb. 8, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif.

The right-wing backlash was immediate, with much of the criticism focusing on three things: first, that Bad Bunny (real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio) has been vocal about his opposition to the ongoing immigration raids, both in the mainland and in Puerto Rico; secondly, that he sings primarily in Spanish; and thirdly, that he’s “not American.”

This latter point, as conservative media personality Tomi Lahren hilariously learned the hard way and in real time, is not factually correct. (The interjection by Lahren’s guest, Krystal Ball — “He’s Puerto Rican…. That’s part of America, dear” — is still sending me.) And even if it was, it’d be irrelevant. As my colleague LZ Granderson recently pointed out, there have been plenty of non-American musical acts who have performed at the Super Bowl — from the Rolling Stones to U2 to Shakira.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was so appalled by Bad Bunny being tapped to perform that she announced that Immigration and Customs Enforcement would be present at the big game.

“I have the responsibility for making sure everybody who goes to the Super Bowl has the opportunity to enjoy it and to leave, and that’s what America’s about,” she said. “So yeah, we’ll be all over that place. We’re going to enforce the law.”

What Noem left out was that federal law enforcement agents have historically been present at such high-profile events as the Copa America and previous Super Bowls — rapper 21 Savage was even arrested by ICE during the 2019 game, held in Atlanta.

To be clear, I’m not surprised that conservatives were upset about the pick. In fact, I’m willing to bet that they would’ve been mad regardless of whom the National Football League selected. At one point, Taylor Swift was rumored to be the headliner, and we all know how President Trump feels about her — she’s a “woke singer” who “is no longer hot.” Then there’s Kendrick Lamar, who upset many on the right last year when he reclaimed the American flag for Black people during his performance.

I expected the outrage. In fact, when I found out, I lamented that the announcement came while I was still on paternity leave and would therefore be unable to write about it in this space. Because surely, the news cycle would have moved on to something else.

But I was wrong. This story is about to be two weeks old and it still has legs.

“I’ve never heard of him. I don’t know who he is,” Trump said, channeling his inner Mariah Carey during an interview with Newsmax on Monday. “I don’t know why they’re doing it. It’s crazy. And then they blame it on some promoter they hired to pick up entertainment. I think it’s absolutely ridiculous.”

(Must be a Nicky Jam fan, then. I hear “she’s hot.”)

Even the Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.), known pop culture maven, chimed in.

“I didn’t even know who Bad Bunny was. But it sounds like a terrible decision, in my view, from what I’m hearing,” Johnson said during an interview. “It sounds like he’s not someone who appeals to a broader audience. And there are so many eyes on the Super Bowl — a lot of young, impressionable children. And, in my view, you would have Lee Greenwood, or role models, doing that. Not somebody like this.”

Lee Greenwood? Be serious, Mike Johnson.

For the unfamiliar, Greenwood is best known for “God Bless the U.S.A.” and has had nearly as many marriages (five) as he’s had No. 1 hits on Billboard’s U.S. Hot Country Songs chart (seven). He clearly lacks the number of bangers to put together a solid halftime performance.

But wait, there’s more. Turning Point USA — the conservative nonprofit organization founded by the late Charlie Kirk — announced Thursday via social media that it was planning on counter-programming Bad Bunny’s performance and organizing its own Super Bowl halftime show with an artist (or artists) to be determined. The group also published a poll asking people to vote on what kind of act they wanted; with the first option being “Anything in English.” (I saw them at South by Southwest in 2012, and let me tell you — they were meh.)

If it seems like I’m making light of things, it’s because I am. The whole situation is absurd and the outrage feels manufactured. At best, it’s just fodder to feed into the bottomless right wing content machine, and at worst, it feels like a distraction from much bigger issues, like the government shutdown or the ongoing constitutional crisis playing out in cities such as Chicago and Portland, Ore.

And if right-wingers are genuinely about Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl, here’s an idea: Don’t watch. But that wouldn’t be very American, would it?

A pair of thank yous

This week’s edition of the Latinx Files is my first one since coming back from paternity leave — a period in which I was fully able to bond with my baby and not think about work. This is in large part because of Suzy Exposito and Carlos de Loera, who handled the day-to-day operations of De Los and who wrote this weekly newsletter, respectively. Thank you both. I am eternally grateful.

Stories we read this week that we think you should read

Unless otherwise noted, stories below were published by the Los Angeles Times.

Immigration

Arts and culture

Food

• The myths and realities of gentrification in Mexico City. Should you still visit?
• The best restaurants and bars in Mexico City: 34 spots that aren’t tourist traps.

Oct. 9 (UPI) — The Charlie Kirk-co-founded Turning Point USA is planning to host an alternative musical performance called “The All-American Halftime Show” for Super Bowl LX.

Officials for the conservative non-profit announced the planned alternative halftime show on social media but did not say which musical acts and others would perform.

“It’s true, Turning Point USA is thrilled to announce The All-American Halftime Show,” it said in a post on X on Thursday, as reported by Fox News.

The post says the event will celebrate faith, family and freedom.

Turning Point USA has created a website to present the halftime show and asked online visitors to choose which musical genres they would like to see perform.

Survey results so far show support for country, rock, hip hop and “anything in English,” The Hill reported.

The event would air while rapper Benito Antonio Martiniz Ocasio, aka Bad Bunny, performs during the Super Bowl’s halftime show headliner.

The musical artist from Puerto Rico has won three Grammy Awards since his career took off in 2016.

He also is slated to be named Billboard’s Latin Artist of the 21st Century during the 2025 Billboard Latin Music Awards on Oct.23.

Bad Bunny is undertaking a world tour but has refused to perform in the United States, other than during the Super Bowl.

He has cited concerns that Immigration and Customs Enforcement might target his U.S. shows and detain audience members, according to Axios.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt recently dismissed such concerns and said there are no plans in place to raid Bad Bunny concerts.

Despite Leavitt’s denial, DHS adviser Corey Lewandowski recently suggested ICE agents would attend Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance.

Lewandowski made the claim while appearing on “The Benny Show” podcast on Oct. 1.

“There is nowhere that you can provide a safe haven to the people in this country illegally,” he told podcast host Benny Johnson.

The Super Bowl is scheduled for Feb. 8 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.

Oct. 9 (UPI) — The Charlie Kirk-co-founded Turning Point USA is planning to host an alternative musical performance called “The All-American Halftime Show” for Super Bowl LX.

Officials for the conservative non-profit announced the planned alternative halftime show on social media but did not say which musical acts and others would perform.

“It’s true, Turning Point USA is thrilled to announce The All-American Halftime Show,” it said in a post on X on Thursday, as reported by Fox News.

The post says the event will celebrate faith, family and freedom.

Turning Point USA has created a website to present the halftime show and asked online visitors to choose which musical genres they would like to see perform.

Survey results so far show support for country, rock, hip hop and “anything in English,” The Hill reported.

The event would air while rapper Benito Antonio Martiniz Ocasio, aka Bad Bunny, performs during the Super Bowl’s halftime show headliner.

The musical artist from Puerto Rico has won three Grammy Awards since his career took off in 2016.

He also is slated to be named Billboard’s Latin Artist of the 21st Century during the 2025 Billboard Latin Music Awards on Oct.23.

Bad Bunny is undertaking a world tour but has refused to perform in the United States, other than during the Super Bowl.

He has cited concerns that Immigration and Customs Enforcement might target his U.S. shows and detain audience members, according to Axios.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt recently dismissed such concerns and said there are no plans in place to raid Bad Bunny concerts.

Despite Leavitt’s denial, DHS adviser Corey Lewandowski recently suggested ICE agents would attend Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance.

Lewandowski made the claim while appearing on “The Benny Show” podcast on Oct. 1.

“There is nowhere that you can provide a safe haven to the people in this country illegally,” he told podcast host Benny Johnson.

The Super Bowl is scheduled for Feb. 8 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.

The problem with betting on a sure thing over and over is that eventually your luck will probably run out.

“Saturday Night Live” has bet multiple times on Bad Bunny, an incredibly charismatic performer who was all over the show’s 50th anniversary specials earlier this year and who was an excellent host and musical guest in late 2023.

For the “SNL” 51st season premiere, Bad Bunny’s streak as a perfect go-to personality for the show has ended with an episode that was bafflingly weak, with dated sketches and writing that didn’t cater to the host’s strength as the show’s done in the past. Even appearances from Jon Hamm, “One Battle After Another” actor Benicio del Toro and Huntr/x, the trio of singers from the wildly popular “KPop Demon Hunters,” barely moved the needle on an episode that couldn’t find its footing until “Weekend Update” and then quickly lost momentum again afterward.

The musician is coming off a lengthy residency of concerts in Puerto Rico and was just announced as the 2026 Super Bowl halftime performer. Hosting the premiere should have been a victory lap with a summer’s worth of strong sketches to kick off the season. But it comes at a time of major cast and writer turnover, which couldn’t have helped. Last time he hosted, Bad Bunny was served well by sketches that either let him play himself, or let him speak throughout in Spanish (“The Age of Discovery” being a perfect example).

This time, he had to portray in English an obsessed “Kpop Demon Hunters” fan who happens to be an adult, a contestant on “Jeopardy” who simply can’t form answers into questions, a man who wants to donate sperm to strangers in a restaurant, and a member of a group of Spaniards in 900 A.D., including del Toro, trying to form the rules of their language (but discussed in English, for some reason).

The host fared a little better in two late sketches, one about an amorous principal (Ashley Padilla) disciplining a student (Marcello Hernández), and an homage to “El Chavo del Ocho” that wasn’t very funny, but was at least a pretty accurate recreation of the Mexican sitcom.

We’ve seen Bad Bunny soar on “SNL” when the material is built around his charm and abilities. This time, the writers shoehorned him into multiple sloppy sketches (“Jeopardy,” in particular, felt half-baked) that could have been written for any guest host. He deserved better.

Musical guest Doja Cat performed “AAHH MEN!” and “Gorgeous.” She didn’t appear in any sketches.

In the season’s first cold open, “SNL” relied again on the premise of a sketch getting going — in this case Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (Colin Jost) berating U.S. military generals — and then being interrupted by a President Trump (James Austin Johnson) monologue. Given all the new cast members, Jost was a surprise to carry the first part, in which he complained as Hegseth, “our military is gay as Hell!” Hegseth said the military must be a place where there are “no fug-ups, no fatties, no facial hair, no body hair. Just hot shredded hairless men who are definitely not gay!” When Trump appeared, he said, “‘SNL’ 51 — off to a rough start. Seventeen new cast members and they got the ‘Update’ guy doing the cold open.” His meta commentary included references to the controversial Riyadh Comedy Festival (Jost claimed he wasn’t invited), and a bad joke about Saudi Arabia that drew groans: “We like the Saudis because they like to saw-deez journalists in half.” Mikey Day appeared briefly as FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr and before Trump concluded, he made the “SNL” crew, whom he claimed as Trump voters, promise to “keep an eye on Marcello for me.”

In his monologue, Bad Bunny said the reason he wasn’t serving as musical guest like the last time he hosted was that he needed to rest. He showed footage from one of his concerts, including a shot of Hamm dancing along. Hamm was shown in the audience wearing the same tropical outfit. As for the Super Bowl controversy, the host deftly addressed it by showing a spliced together Fox News clip with hosts saying, “Bad Bunny is my favorite musician and he should be the next president.” Then, in Spanish, he thanked Latino fans in particular who’ve supported him and said that no one can erase their contributions to the United States. “If you didn’t understand what I said, you have four months to learn,” he concluded.

Best sketch of the night: ChatGPTío might take unexpected pictures of you

ChatGPT might be too nice and sycophantic; what if it were more like a Latino uncle who’s honest to a fault with you? In this mock commercial for OpenAI hosted by Chloe Fineman, Hernández and Bad Bunny play AI characters within ChatGPT who give loud advice and sometimes call in the middle of the night to ask about Smash Mouth. How do you make vegan banana bread? “You don’t!” Was Jesus really God? “Yes.” It doesn’t quite work as a concept if you think too much about it, but Hernández makes a meal yet again out of playing a Latino elder with strong opinions.

Also good: Huntr/x keep it ‘Golden’ for a superfan

While it wasn’t the best showcase for Bad Bunny, who struggled with line deliveries, this sketch about a “Kpop Demon Hunters” fan had a surprise appearance by the singers from the animated movie’s soundtrack, who performed part of their hit “Golden” and had some strangely funny dialogue, such as the reveals that one of the brunch companions is on the Epstein list (for flying JetBlue through his island) and another was the writer of the Sydney Sweeney American Eagle Jeans commercial. It also featured Bowen Yang as “Demon Hunters” villain Jinu singing “Soda Pop,” another fun surprise.

‘Weekend Update’ winner: Expect someone to make They K. Rowling shirts after this

New cast member Kam Patterson made his debut in a segment begging “SNL” to let him use the N-word (“I’m a stand-up comedian from Florida, saying that word is what I do!”). But it was Yang in prosthetics as Dobby the House Elf from “Harry Potter” who won the night despite a hilarious wardrobe malfunction — his rag outfit kept coming off at the shoulder. Dobby begins by defending J.K. Rowling’s views on transgender people, but ends up questioning the author’s views and freeing himself in the process with his possession of a They K. Rowling T-shirt. It’s a good thing Yang didn’t leave “SNL” as was rumored because this episode badly needed him.

Oct. 1 (UPI) — Homeland Security adviser Corey Lewandowski said Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will attend the Super Bowl’s halftime show featuring Bad Bunny.

Lewandowski, 52, appeared on “The Benny Show” podcast on Wednesday when he made his claim about ICE at the Super Bowl, according to The Hill.

“There is nowhere that you can provide a safe haven to the people in this country illegally,” Lewandowski said in response to a question from podcast host Benny Johnson.

“We will find you. We will apprehend you. We will put you in a detention facility, and we will deport you,” he claimed.

Lewandowski was President Donald Trump‘s campaign manager in 2016 and a senior adviser in 2020 and 2024.

The Super Bowl is the only U.S. performance scheduled so far in 2026 for Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, aka Bad Bunny, who is from Puerto Rico and has won three Grammy Awards.

The popular rapper last month said he was skipping performing in the United States due to his fear that ICE would raid his concert venues, Variety reported.

Bad Bunny on Sunday affirmed he is skipping dates in the United States, other than the Super Bowl, next year, according to Billboard.

“I’ve been thinking about it these days, and after discussing it with my team, I think I’ll do just one date in the United States,” he posted on X.

The popular rapper has a world tour scheduled from December through July, but said concerns that ICE might show up at U.S. shows caused him to skip performing here.

The Super Bowl is scheduled at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Feb. 8.

After making a cameo during Shakira and Jennifer Lopez’s 2020 halftime show in Miami, Bad Bunny will return to the Super Bowl stage next year — this time, as the headlining act.

The 2026 Super Bowl LX will take place Feb. 8 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. The Puerto Rican hitmaker’s performance is expected to be the first fully Spanish-language performance on the stage, and he’s the first Latino man to headline.

The announcement came after Bad Bunny, full name Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, said he would not tour his latest album, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” to the continental U.S. due to the ongoing threat of ICE arresting his concertgoers. “There was the issue of — like, f— ICE could be outside [my concert]. And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about,” he told i-D magazine.

Instead, the Grammy-winning artist’s No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí (I Don’t Want to Leave Here) residency — which took place at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan — brought an estimated $733 million to Puerto Rico as 600,000-plus tourists came to the island for his concert.

As an unincorporated territory of the United States, Puerto Rico still has an ICE presence. In June 2025, Benito posted footage on his Instagram stories of an ICE raid in progress in Carolina, showcasing agents arresting alleged undocumented immigrants.

Yet since announcing his Super Bowl halftime show, the singer hasn’t voiced concerns about ICE. His post on X, which strays from his previous remarks on avoiding the States as a stance against ICE, reads: “I’ve been thinking about it these days, and after discussing it with my team, I think I’ll do just one date in the United States.”

As Santa Clara County is a sanctuary jurisdiction, Lina Baroudi, an immigration attorney in San Jose, believes local law enforcement is unlikely to cooperate with ICE. “Federal agents can operate independently. Sanctuary laws don’t prevent them from entering public spaces or executing federal warrants,” she says.

Between January and July in the Bay Area, ICE made 2,640 arrests— a 123% increase compared with 2024. “By June 2025, around 60% of ICE daily arrests in California were of people without criminal charges or convictions,” Baroudi says. The agency has historically had an increased presence in cities hosting the Super Bowl. ICE will likely be prohibited from operating inside the stadium, but ICE can operate in public spaces such as the parking lot, where fans may gather to hear the performance.

Amid an uptick in violent ICE arrests, mass deportations, people dying in ICE custody and the Supreme Court’s approval of profiling people for speaking Spanish, it’s of deep cultural significance that Bad Bunny will perform at the Super Bowl. Still, some fans are speculating that his firm stance against performing in the U.S. due to ICE was performative, now that he has accepted the Super Bowl gig.

And yet, given the Trump administration’s hostility toward immigrants and Spanish speakers in the U.S., it feels especially poignant that the country’s biggest sporting event of the year will showcase a performance sung entirely in Spanish.

“What I’m feeling goes beyond myself,” Bad Bunny said in a statement. “It’s for those who came before me and ran countless yards so I could come in and score a touchdown… this is for my people, my culture and our history. Ve y dile a tu abuela, que seremos el HALFTIME SHOW DEL SUPER BOWL.”

It’s worth noting that Bad Bunny’s appearance at the Super Bowl poses a massive commercial advantage for the NFL. Second to the United States, the largest resale of Super Bowl tickets on StubHub were purchased by fans in Mexico. There are 39 million Latine fans of the league in the U.S., making them the most rapidly growing fan base. Latine viewership of the Super Bowl rose 51% from 2021 to 2024.

The NFL has made a concerted effort over the years to globalize American football, with a special focus on building a fan base in Latin America; it recently enlisted Colombian pop star Karol G to perform at a halftime show in Brazil. Given that the Latine buying power in the U.S. is estimated at $3.6 trillion, tapping Bad Bunny as the headliner is a strategic move toward the league’s international expansion.

The global superstar’s performance will likely boost ratings as well. Bad Bunny broke Amazon Music’s livestream record last week with the most-watched single artist performance on the platform. Upon its release in January, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” topped the Billboard 200 and maintained Bad Bunny’s place as one of Spotify’s most-streamed artists in three of the past five years.

Year after year, since 2022, artists have broken the record for the highest viewership during a Super Bowl halftime show. During the 2025 Super Bowl, Kendrick Lamar drew the largest audience ever, with 133.5 million people tuning in for his performance, surpassing the actual game’s viewership.

While the Bad Bunny halftime show has the potential to break viewership records, bring in new audiences and educate viewers on the Puerto Rico he loves — it also poses a potential security risk for his Latine fans in attendance, who deserve solidarity and increased institutional support.

The NFL announced the musical headliner for Super Bowl LX’s halftime show, and — much to MAGA’s chagrin — it’s not Kid Rock.

Music’s most lucrative spot went to a relevant artist who actually sells albums: Bad Bunny. Letting the Puerto Rican rapper and singer turned global megastar perform 2026’s halftime show gifts right-wing influencers with a fresh conduit for the old grievance that woke culture has permeated every crevice of American culture, especially the Super Bowl.

Their proof: The NFL chose a predominantly Spanish-language artist who is known to wear women’s dresses, who endorsed Kamala Harris in 2024, and who has decried this year’s immigration sweeps. Clearly, this decision was designed to irk them rather than serve Bad Bunny’s millions and millions of fans.

“The NFL is self-destructing year after year,” conservative commentator Benny Johnson wrote on X. He said of Bad Bunny: “Massive Trump hater. Anti-ICE activist. No songs in English.”

Other critics accused the reggaeton artist of flip-flopping, particularly following Bad Bunny’s statements earlier this month that he would not include any mainland U.S. dates on his Debí Tirar Más Fotos world tour out of concern that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents might target and detain his fans.

“There were many reasons why I didn’t show up in the U.S., and none of them were out of hate — I’ve performed there many times,” he said to I-D magazine. “But there was the issue of — like, f—ing ICE could be outside [my concert]. And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about.”

The artist, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, explained his decision to join the long list of Super Bowl halftime notables in a short statement following the NFL’s announcement Sunday.

“What I’m feeling goes beyond myself,” he said. “It’s for those who came before me and ran countless yards so I could come in and score a touchdown … this is for my people, my culture and our history. Ve y dile a tu abuela, que seremos el HALFTIME SHOW DEL SUPER BOWL.”

Bad Bunny in glasses, not a dress.

(Jordan Strauss / Invision / AP)

The year-after-year decision to cast top-ranking pop artists and music legends in the featured Super Bowl halftime spot is hardly a mystery. They are stars that sell or performers that appeal to millions. But that dull reality hasn’t stopped the characterizations that the Bad Bunny decision is a deep state conspiracy, designed to rot American households from the inside out.

“Barack Obama’s best friend Jay-Z runs the Super Bowl selection process through his company Roc Nation which has an exclusive contract with the NFL. This is who chooses the halftime show, the most-watched musical performance in America,” wrote alt-right figure Jack Posobiec.

The NFL in 2019 partnered with rapper Jay Z’s entertainment and sports company, Roc Nation, to produce its Super Bowl halftime shows. The first show under the new partnership featured 2020’s Latin music in performances by Jennifer Lopez and Shakira. Since then the institution’s halftime performances have largely featured hip-hop artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Rihanna and the OG trio of Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre and Eminem.

Lamar’s 2025 politically charged performance was the source of condemnation from the right. Clad in red, white and blue, his predominantly Black dance crew assembled in an American flag formation. And guest star Samuel L. Jackson, dressed as Uncle Sam, called out the nation’s systemic racism. Lamar had already rankled the right with 2017’s “The Heart Part 4,” where he referred to Trump as a “chump.”

Kendrick Lamar performs during halftime of the NFL Super Bowl 59.

(Frank Franklin II / AP)

It’s one of many moments over the last decade that have galvanized conservative factions around calls to boycott the Super Bowl, or at least publicly bash the event. Beyoncé’s 2016 Super Bowl halftime show was once such flash point, where she performed “Formation” featuring dancers in Black Panther-inspired outfits and paid tribute to the Black Lives Matter movement.

At least those complaints were rooted in a performance that actually happened, as opposed to claims that the NFL was manipulating games for the Kansas City Chiefs to enable tight end Travis Kelce and his then-girlfriend (now fiancée) Taylor Swift to endorse Joe Biden. Sure, totally feasible.

Yet there should be no secret around why the Super Bowl hasn’t featured wildly popular, globally celebrated MAGA-promoting performers: There aren’t any. It’s no wonder Kid Rock and Lee Greenwood always seem to be the entertainment of choice for Trump rallies.

Bad Bunny is the most-streamed male artist on Spotify, running just behind the platform’s most-streamed artist of all time, Swift. As of Sunday, his release “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS” became the first album of 2025 to surpass 7 billion streams on Spotify. And the 31-year-old artist just finished a sold-out, month-long residency at the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Though the Super Bowl is still five months away, those who aren’t among the haters can enjoy an early kick off: Bad Bunny is scheduled to host the new season opener of “SNL” this weekend.

Bad Bunny will headline the halftime show at next year’s Super Bowl LX, organizers announced Sunday.

This will be the Puerto Rican musician’s second time at the Super Bowl following his appearance with Shakira and Jennifer Lopez during halftime of 2020’s game.

“What I’m feeling goes beyond myself. It’s for those who came before me and ran countless yards so I could come in and score a touchdown,” Bad Bunny — whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio — said in a statement, noting that “this is for my people, my culture and our history.

“Ve y dile a tu abuela, que seremos el halftime show del Super Bowl,” he added in Spanish, which translates to a request to tell your grandma that he’s playing the Super Bowl.

• Share via Close extra sharing options

Roc Nation, the sprawling entertainment company founded by Jay-Z, will again produce the event. The company partnered with the NFL in 2019 to consult on live music events and social justice initiatives, including producing and selecting performers for the Super Bowl halftime show.

“What Benito has done and continues to do for Puerto Rico is truly inspiring,” Jay-Z said in the statement. “We are honored to have him on the world’s biggest stage.”

While the big game is an anticipated event for football fans, the halftime spectacle is just as much of an eagerly awaited cultural affair, drawing considerable speculation annually about which star will take what’s widely regarded as music’s biggest stage.

Names that made the rounds this year included Adele and Taylor Swift, with the latter hitting overdrive earlier this month when NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell made an appearance on “Today” and said, “We would always love to have Taylor play. She is a special, special talent, and obviously she would be welcome at any time.” When asked if talks were in the works with the singer, who is engaged to Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce, Goodell tried to sidestep the question before responding, “It’s a maybe.”

Bad Bunny’s headlining gig — announced during halftime of Sunday’s Packers-Cowboys match-up at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Tex. — follows Kendrick Lamar’s performance at this past February’s Super Bowl LIX. Ratings for the Compton-born MC’s halftime show, in which he famously dissed the Canadian rapper Drake and launched a TikTok craze over his flared Celine jeans and “Not Like Us” shuffle, were the highest of all time, according to Nielsen, which said the telecast drew more than 127.7 million viewers. It also earned him an Emmy for music direction, an award he shared with co-music director Tony Russell.

Super Bowl LX will take place Feb. 8 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., and will air on NBC.

There’s a particular niche of sophisticated, loungy music that thrived from the late ’90s into the mid-2000s. It grew out of ELO’s regal rock and Serge Gainsbourg’s loucheness, taking on bits of U.K. trip-hop, midcentury exotica, the Largo scene’s orchestral flourishes and Daft Punk’s talkboxes. I don’t quite have a word for it — conversation-pit-core? — but a primary text of it is Air’s “Moon Safari.”

The French duo of Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel released “Moon Safari,” Air’s debut LP, to wide acclaim in 1998. The band’s meticulously hazy synth pads paired beautifully with ultra-minimal funk bass and loping tempos. “Moon Safari” set a new benchmark for upmarket French pop, with singles like “Sexy Boy” and “Kelly Watch the Stars” proving they had chops for hooks as well. The band immediately followed it with the score for Sofia Coppola’s debut feature, “The Virgin Suicides,” and those two albums locked in Air as the ultimate turn-of-the-century band for tasteful European melancholy.

At the Bowl on Sunday, the band revisited the whole of “Moon Safari” with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, capping off KCRW’s festival season there. Since that album’s release, Coppola’s daughter Romy grew old enough to become an influencer herself, yet “The Virgin Suicides” remains a mood-board favorite for Gen Z. Fellow travelers like Bonobo, who opened the night with a DJ set, have become arena stars in their own right.

“Moon Safari” has held up wonderfully on its own merits. But as algorithms funnel audiences deeper into formless background listening, Sunday’s show was a reminder that chill can be compelling. Air’s intense focus gave these wispy songs a strong backbone too.

From the opener of “La Femme d’Argent,” lifted by Godin’s nimble basslines, the vibes were, as they say, immaculate. Dressed in all-white formalwear, the band took care to show how much compositional rigor went into this album’s laid-back feeling. The arrangements highlighted the nuanced tones of each of Dunckel’s many synths, and how the band’s Beatles-y chord changes could keep your ears locked into the most stark passages.

Extra credit goes to Air’s creative direction and lighting designer, who locked the band inside a rectangular elevated platform that gave the look of performing inside a James Turrell sculpture. It’s a neat conceptual challenge to visually enliven a famously blissed-out album like this onstage, and Air did it with exquisite panache on Sunday.

The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra usually kicks back on shows like this, adding some sizzle and arrangement richness but functioning more as another band member. The orchestra’s horns perked up during “Ce Matin-là” and raised the dramatic temperature on closer “Le Voyage de Pénélope,” but the whole set was an exercise in restraint as a means of making sure every good idea gets its shine. “Moon Safari” didn’t need much else, but what it got was illuminating.

The back half of the set went into the band’s score work for Coppola — “Highschool Lover” and “Alone in Kyoto,” from “The Virgin Suicides” and “Lost In Translation” respectively, stirred the wistful elder millennials among the crowd, this writer included. They adopted a Daft Punk-ish distance on “Electronic Performers,” touting how “MIDI clocks ring in my mind … We need envelope filters to say how we feel,” but they didn’t really need that wink and nudge. When they broke the spell of ethereal cuts like “Cherry Blossom Girl” for heavier, krautrock-driven numbers like “Don’t Be Light,” they proved that being roused from tasteful stoned pondering is as fun as falling into it.

It’s week two of the NFL season and after two thrilling games won by the Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers last week, we now have a Super Bowl rematch. The NFL just knows how to create these match-ups.

The Kansas City Chiefs host the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday and this is going to be very interesting because it’s definitely a revenge game. The Eagles beat the Chiefs 40-22 in the Super Bowl and nullified them till late in the third quarter.

I think the biggest difference between the two teams is their roster. You look at the Eagles, they have Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, AJ Brown. You can keep listing all these great players, and I just don’t know who the Chiefs have any more. It’s Patrick Mahomes… then what is that supporting cast?

Rashee Rice is suspended for their first six games and Xavier Worthy suffered a shoulder injury as he and Travis Kelce ran into each other in last week’s defeat by the Los Angeles Chargers in Brazil.

That leaves Hollywood Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster as the main receivers, which puts a lot of pressure on because the Chiefs’ run game has not been terrific at all.

The Chargers game was very much the Mahomes show. At one point, he had more carries than anybody else on the field. He put his body on the line multiple times – those hits add up, and you don’t want to see your superstar quarterback risking his health so early in the season.

Mahomes had six scrambles and the Chiefs only ran it 11 other times. Isiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt combined for 41 yards with 10 of those carries, and that’s just not sustainable.

After the Eagles, the Chiefs face the New York Giants and then the Baltimore Ravens so, realistically, they could have a 1-3 record after four weeks.

Baltimore is a huge game and with the Ravens losing to the Bills last week, they’re going to have a lot to prove as well, to show that they want to be on top.

The Eagles have a tough run defence, and the Giants have a good defence too, so I think that will be telling, to see how the Chiefs are able to run the ball. These two games stacked together, the Chiefs almost have to think about how they are going to prepare themselves to ensure they’re firing on all cylinders for the Ravens.

Last year, the Chiefs won so many one-score games, and they’re going to have to be much better to do that again. They may be out for revenge against the Eagles but I don’t think they have it in them… yet.

Rashee Rice is a huge part of their offensive scheme and, without Worthy, they don’t have any deep threat either so, I hate to say it, but I really struggle to see what they’ll be able to do. I don’t see what their answers are right now.

In the off-season, the Chiefs lost Joe Thuney, who was huge for them on defence, but they did draft a left tackle in the first round, Josh Simmons, to help protect Mahomes more, and brought in another offensive tackle in Jaylon Moore, so they are doing the right things to create strength on the offensive line.

They need to because the AFC West is the toughest it’s been in a long time – none of it is given this year. The Chargers beat the Chiefs, the Las Vegas Raiders have got better and Bo Nix has only got stronger with the Denver Broncos.

I still think the Chiefs will make the play-offs but if they carry on like this, I would be concerned.

Noel Gallagher scanned the audience at the Rose Bowl on Saturday night and pointed down at a fan in the front row. “Young lady, what’s your name?” he asked, tilting his head to try to catch the answer. “I can’t really hear you, but this next song is for you.” As he spoke, a camera found a woman wearing an Oasis T-shirt openly weeping — openly sobbing — and sent her image to the giant video screens flanking the stage. “She’s been in tears all night, this girl,” Gallagher added, “which I hope is not a review of the f— gig.”

Not far from it, in fact: Since launching its reunion tour in early July, Oasis — the swaggering British rock band formed in the early 1990s by Gallagher on guitar and his younger brother Liam on lead vocals — has been traveling the world inspiring great outpourings of emotion wherever it goes. On social media, memes have proliferated equating the catharsis to be had at an Oasis concert to a form of therapy; more than one observer has suggested that gathering with tens of thousands of people to sing along with the Gallaghers’ songs might turn out to be the cure for the male loneliness epidemic.

Along with the blockbuster ticket sales and the pop-up merch stores, this nightly purification ritual has positioned Oasis Live ’25 — the band’s first run of shows in more than a decade and a half — as this year’s version of Taylor Swift’s Eras tour. Which of course some tour was destined to be: At a moment of encroaching technological alienation, humans are naturally searching out opportunities for real-world connection (which is one reason why thousands paid money last month to sit in a movie theater and watch Netflix’s “KPop Demon Hunters” for the second — or fifth, or 12th — time with other humans).

Oasis performs Saturday night at the Rose Bowl.

(Kevin Winter / Getty Images)

Yet I’m not sure I’d have called that it would be an old rock group with three guitarists that would get it done, never mind this old rock group in particular: The first of two dates at the Rose Bowl, Saturday’s sold-out show came 31 years after Oasis almost broke up for the first time following a chaotic 1994 gig at the Whisky a Go Go where the famously combative Gallaghers — having mistaken crystal meth for cocaine, as the story goes — nearly came to blows; Oasis’ long-promised breakup finally took in 2009, after which the brothers spent years trading savage insults in the press (and anywhere else they could do it).

How exactly Noel, now 58, and Liam, 52, managed to come back together hasn’t yet been told; one suspects that sufficiently humongous bags of cash had something to do with it. On the road, the Gallaghers are accompanied by Oasis’ original guitarist, Paul Arthurs (known delightfully as Bonehead), along with Gem Archer on guitar, Andy Bell on bass, Joey Waronker on drums and Christian Madden on keyboards. At the Rose Bowl, celebrities in attendance included Paul McCartney, Leonardo DiCaprio, Billie Eilish, Metallica’s James Hetfield, Laufey and MGK — a varied list of names that tells you something about the broad appeal of classic Oasis songs like “Wonderwall,” “Roll With It,” “Some Might Say,” “Champagne Supernova” and “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” the last of which was the tune Noel dedicated to the woman shedding tears of joy in the front row.

Liam Gallagher, left, and Noel Gallagher at the Rose Bowl.

(Kevin Winter / Getty Images)

The songs indeed were the thing on Saturday. Oasis sounded great, with those three guitars snarling and shimmering over sturdy grooves that mapped a middle ground among punk, glam and late-Beatles balladry; Liam’s voice was somehow both brawny and sweet as he reached for the high notes with a kind of taunting effortlessness. And the brothers engaged in a bit of lovable stage business, as when Liam — looking superb as always in his signature shades and anorak — balanced a tambourine on his head and offered gnomic shout-outs to Woody Woodpecker and to the sword swallowers in the audience.

But this was the least showy pop show I’ve seen in years; Oasis’ comeback is as much about the crowd as it is about the band — as much about the people singing along with the music as it is about the people making it. Song after song took the imperative mood: “Acquiesce,” “Bring It On Down,” “Fade Away,” “Stand By Me,” “Cast No Shadow,” “Slide Away” — each a command happily obeyed until the next one was issued forth, each abstract enough in its emotional specifics to satisfy whatever need it might meet. (“Someday you will find me / Caught beneath the landslide / In a Champagne supernova in the sky” still makes gloriously little sense.)

Because they’d done so much to bring the audience together, you couldn’t help by the end of the concert to long for a glimpse of a little brotherly love between the Gallaghers. They obliged during the finale, Liam circling Noel then clapping him on the back as the last chords of “Champagne Supernova” rang out and fireworks filled the sky with smoky light. It wasn’t much, and it was more than enough.

The most densely packed section inside the Rose Bowl on Saturday was filled with fans wearing the colors of the visiting team.

Swathed in red and white, they crammed into one corner of the century-old stadium for what amounted to a nightlong celebration.

Fans cheering for the home team were more subdued and scattered throughout a stadium that seemed about one-third full, outnumbered by empty seats, visiting fans and those massive blue-and-gold tarps covering most of each end zone. Deliberately or not, Fox cameras inside the stadium showed those watching from home only wide shots filled with graphics that obscured the paltry crowd.

By late in the third quarter, the only suspense remaining in UCLA’s 43-10 blowout loss to Utah was waiting for the announced attendance. Reporters in the press box were given a figure of 35,032, which seemed inflated given so many empty seats below them.

It was.

The scan count, a tally of people actually inside the facility, was 27,785, according to athletic officials.

Creative accounting is the norm in college football given there are no standardized practices for attendance reporting. The Big Ten and other conferences leave it up to individual schools to devise their own formulas.

UCLA defines its announced attendance as tickets distributed — including freebies — plus non-ticketed and credentialed individuals such as players, coaches, staff, vendors, cheerleaders, band members, performers and even media. Across town, USC’s announced attendance includes only tickets distributed, according to an athletic department spokesperson, which was 62,841 for the season opener against Missouri State.

In recent seasons, UCLA’s announced attendance was sometimes more than double the scan count, according to figures obtained by The Times through a public records request.

For UCLA’s home opener against Bowling Green on a sweltering September day in 2022, the announced attendance was 27,143, a record low for the team since moving to the Rose Bowl before the 1982 season.

The actual attendance was much lower. UCLA’s scan count, which represented people who entered the stadium (including the aforementioned non-ticketed and credentialed individuals) was 12,383 — 14,760 fewer than the announced attendance. The scan count for the next game, against Alabama State, was just a smidgen higher at 14,093.

Those longing for an on-campus stadium could quip that UCLA might as well hold some games at Drake Stadium given the track facility holds 11,700 and could probably accommodate several thousand more with temporary bleachers placed opposite the permanent grandstands.

Empty seats aren’t just a game day buzzkill given their correlation to lost revenue.

“Since we are now in the era of NIL and revenue sharing, where cash is king,” said David Carter, an adjunct professor of sports business at USC, “every school hoping to play competitive big-time football needs to generate as much revenue and excitement around its program as possible. But since empty seats don’t buy beer or foam fingers, let alone merchandise and parking, any and all other forms of revenue are needed to offset these chronic game day losses in revenue.”

Declining revenue is especially troublesome at a school whose athletic department has run in the red for six consecutive fiscal years. The Bruins brought in $11.6 million in football ticket revenue during the most recent fiscal year, down nearly half from the $20 million they generated in 2014 when the team averaged a record 76,650 fans at the Rose Bowl under coach Jim Mora. But one athletic official said the school in 2025 could come close to matching the $5.5 million it generated in season ticket revenue a year ago.

Low attendance is a deepening concern. UCLA’s five worst home season-attendance figures since moving to the Rose Bowl in 1982 have come over the last five seasons not interrupted by COVID-19, including 46,805 last season. That figure ranked 16th among the 18 Big Ten Conference teams, ahead of only Maryland and Northwestern, which was playing at a temporary lakeside stadium seating just 12,023.

Recent attendance numbers remind some longtime observers of the small crowds for UCLA games in the late 1970s at the Coliseum, which was part of the reason for the team’s move to Pasadena. During their final decade of calling the Coliseum home, the Bruins topped 50,000 fans only six times for games not involving rival USC.

“Now, disappointingly, it would appear that the same attendance challenges that UCLA football faced at the Coliseum in the 1970s are repeating themselves at the Rose Bowl,” said John Sandbrook, a former UCLA assistant chancellor under chancellor Chuck Young and one of the primary power brokers in the school’s switch to the Rose Bowl.

Attendance woes are hardly confined to UCLA. Sixty-one of 134 Football Bowl Subdivision teams experienced a year-over-year decline in attendance last season, according to D1ticker.com.

UCLA faces several unique challenges, particularly early each season. Its stadium resides 26 miles from campus and students don’t start classes until late September. Other explanations for low turnouts have included late start times such as the 8 p.m. kickoff against Utah, lackluster nonconference opponents and triple-digit heat for some September games.

Quarterback Nico Iamaleava said he appreciated those who did show up Saturday, including a throng of friends and family from his hometown Long Beach.

“Fan base came out and showed their support, man,” Iamaleava said. “You know, it felt great going out there and playing in front of them. Obviously, we got to do our part and, you know, get them a win and make them enjoy the game.”

On some occasions, UCLA’s attendance figures have closely reflected the number of people in the stadium, including high-interest games such as Colorado coach Deion Sanders’ appearance in 2023. For that game, the announced attendance (71,343) only slightly exceeded the scan count (68,615).

The rivalry game also gets fans to show up. The announced attendance of 59,473 last season for USC’s 19-13 victory at the Rose Bowl wasn’t far off from the scan count of 51,588.

See all those empty seats? There were fewer than 13,000 fans in attendance to see quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson, right, and wide receiver Titus Mokiao-Atimalala celebrate a touchdown against Bowling Green in 2022.

(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)

Still, as traditions go, creative accounting might predate the eight-clap. Similar to fudging practices known to be widespread at other schools, UCLA officials have been known to embellish attendance figures, sometimes rounding far enough past the next thousand not to strain credulity, according to two people familiar with operations who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Additionally, according to a former university administrator who observed the practice, a member of the athletic department staff would show a slip of paper with a suggested attendance figure for basketball games at Pauley Pavilion in the 1960s and 1970s to athletic director J.D. Morgan, who would either nod or take a pen and change the number to one more to his liking. That practice continued under subsequent athletic director Peter Dalis, the administrator said.

While declining to comment for this story, current athletic administrators have acknowledged the challenge of drawing fans in an increasingly crowded sports landscape that now includes two local NFL teams. Among other ventures, UCLA has created a new fan zone outside the stadium that can be enjoyed without purchasing a ticket and will hold a concert on the north side of the stadium the day of the Penn State game early next month.

While there’s no promotion like winning, as the saying goes, there also may be no salvaging the situation for the Bruins’ next home game. UCLA will face New Mexico on Sept. 12 for a Friday evening kickoff that will force fans to fight weekday traffic to see their favorite team face an opponent from the Mountain West Conference.

Brave souls who look around and hear the announced attendance might experience inflation on the rise once more.

There’s no need to rehash what might have been UCLA’s most deflating football season opener since …

The Bruins produced a dud against Cincinnati in Chip Kelly’s 2018 debut?

Karl Dorrell acknowledged not knowing where to stand on the sideline while losing his first game to Colorado in 2003?

Manual Arts High blew UCLA out, 74-0, in the program’s first game in 1919?

Regardless of your choice, what happened Saturday night at the Rose Bowl was awful. Putrid. Dreadful.

UCLA’s 43-10 setback against Utah — the Bruins’ most lopsided loss in a season opener since they absorbed a 38-3 thrashing by top-ranked Oklahoma in 1986 — came largely as a result of losing the battle on both lines of scrimmage.

The offensive line couldn’t help the run game produce anything of note on the way to 37 yards from its three running backs.

The defense looked lost from the first snap. There was no containment of Utes quarterback Devon Dampier, who often saw more open field in front of him than closing defenders.

Quarterback Nico Iamaleava, appearing overly amped in his UCLA debut, overthrew several receivers on the way to completing only half of his passes but showed flashes of why his arrival was such a big deal. His slippery runs and perfect touch on a 19-yard touchdown pass to running back Anthony Woods were a possible harbinger of far greater success.

The big hope is that the Bruins accelerate their rebound from a year ago. Remember, UCLA looked equally pitiful in its home opener against Indiana last season (a 42-13 drubbing) as part of a 1-5 start, only to turn things around and nearly make a bowl game.

Defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe moved players around until he found the right combination, putting Oluwafemi Oladejo at edge rusher and inserting linebacker Carson Schwesinger into the starting lineup on the way to one of the greatest individual seasons in school history.

But is there enough talent on this team to spark a turnaround? These guys looked slow-footed and couldn’t tackle very well. Finding a capable edge rusher or two must be a top priority.

For UCLA to have any meaningful success this season, it’s going to have to pile up wins against the soft patch of its schedule that starts next weekend. A road game against Nevada Las Vegas (2-0, albeit with victories over Sam Houston and Idaho State) will be followed by a home game against New Mexico (0-1) and the Big Ten opener on the road against Northwestern (0-1).

Was the Bruins’ opener just a bad night against a good team or an omen? We’ll know soon enough.

Joey and Dante watch

Former Bruin Joey Aguilar had a nice game against Syracuse on Saturday.

(Mike Stewart / Associated Press)

Compounding UCLA’s misery was the success that two former Bruins quarterbacks enjoyed in their season openers.

Joey Aguilar, briefly a Bruin in the spring before transferring to Tennessee as part of the so-called trade for Iamaleava, starred in his Volunteers debut. Joey Football, as he’s been known since his gunslinger days at Appalachian State, looked like a gamer Saturday during Tennessee’s 45-26 victory over Syracuse, throwing for 247 yards and three touchdowns.

Dante Moore, who looked so spectacular early in the 2023 season at UCLA before throwing a pick-six in three consecutive games and losing his starting job to Ethan Garbers on the way to the transfer portal, returned to a starring role during Oregon’s 59-13 victory over Montana State. Moore completed 18 of 23 passes for 213 yards and three touchdowns without an interception.

It’s important to note that Aguilar and Moore thrived against far lesser competition than Iamaleava faced in the Utes, a possible College Football Playoff contender. Iamaleava also projects as the best of the bunch in terms of NFL upside and could eventually lead UCLA to a renaissance in what’s likely to be his only season as a Bruin.

Perhaps the overriding takeaway after one week is that Iamaleava doesn’t have nearly the supporting cast that he enjoyed last season at Tennessee. The big question: Can he make something worthwhile out of what he has to work with and will others step up to help him?

New fan loyalty program

Airlines, hotels and even local coffee shops have loyalty programs, so why not college sports?

In an effort to strengthen the connection between UCLA and its fans while generating additional revenue, the Bruins athletic department last week announced the creation of the Blue & Gold Society, a loyalty program in partnership with sports marketing agency Two Circles.

Daniel Cruz, UCLA’s deputy athletic director and chief revenue officer, said he wanted to find a new way to connect with fans both inside and outside of Southern California.

“For our fans in New York or the Midwest,” Cruz told The Times, “how do they get access to different things that are cool and memorable and have that connection to the school and contribute directly to the student-athlete so that we can continue to support them and continue driving this program to winning?”

Fans who join the Blue & Gold Society will have access to limited-edition merchandise, behind-the-the scenes tours and specially curated game-day experiences, among other perks. Among the items that fans could secure are surplus jerseys or maybe a piece of the old Pauley Pavilion floor. Experiences could include getting to watch a select team practice.

The program has three tiers with a corresponding level of benefits. The signature tier (priced at $39.99 per month, or available at a discounted annual price) provides a welcome pack, exclusive video and editorial content, an annual merchandise box, quarterly sweepstakes opportunities and an Olympic sports card good for admission to every UCLA sporting event besides football and men’s basketball.

The premium tier ($59.99 per month) comes with enhanced benefits, including two merchandise boxes per year, two tickets to a UCLA sporting event and behind-the-scenes tour of Pauley Pavilion. Those who splurge for the elite tier ($99.99 per month) will receive four merchandise boxes per year, four tickets to two UCLA sporting events and behind-the-scenes tours of both Pauley Pavilion and the Wasserman Football Center, among other benefits.

UCLA is the third college to launch a fan loyalty program in collaboration with Two Circles, joining Kentucky and Colorado.

“It’s not just going to a game or buying a piece of merchandise; it’s really, truly like an immersive experience for the fan,” said Nick Garner, executive vice president for Two Circles. “We want them to know that by joining the Blue & Gold Society, you will have the opportunity to do something that you couldn’t otherwise.”

Cruz said the venture could be instructive in letting UCLA know where fan strongholds exist outside of Los Angeles.

“It could maybe help one day dictate, like, OK, we have a massive fan base in this state,” Cruz said, “why don’t we try to play a game there or do something special there when we do play a team in that region, so I’m pretty excited about that.”

Heard on campus

Delays in the completion of UCLA’s new football practice fields outside the Wasserman Center, which have forced the Bruins to use Drake Stadium and the intramural fields, were twofold, according to an athletic department spokesperson.

The new grass and artificial turf fields were not completed before the season because of extended approval and bid processes after the project was submitted for campus approval in August 2024. Once construction started in July, the schedule for completion has remained on the expected timeline.

The Bruins could start using their new practice fields as soon as the last week of September. The estimated cost of the project is $2.9 million.

A blue-and-golden anniversary

There was another season debut at the Rose Bowl on Saturday.

The UCLA Alumni Band, entering its 50th anniversary, performed before the game to kick off a yearlong celebration.

The band will perform a two-hour concert in the Fan Zone outside the Rose Bowl starting three hours before every home UCLA football game — including a show with the UCLA spirit squad 90 minutes before kickoff — followed by a 30-minute concert in the Court of Champions starting 45 minutes before kickoff. All fans are welcome to attend.

Olympic sport spotlight: Women’s volleyball

The free agency era of college sports could be a great thing for this team.

Coming off a sub-.500 season, the UCLA women’s volleyball team restocked its roster with a bunch of highly coveted transfers. Among the new arrivals are outside hitter Maggie Li, a former Pac-12 Conference freshman of the year at California; Zayna Meyer, a former Big West Conference setter of the year at Long Beach State; middle blocker Phekran Kong, a onetime star at Louisville; and defensive specialist-libero Lola Schumacher, a former All-Big Ten freshman from Wisconsin.

They will join senior outside hitter Cheridyn Leverette, a returning first team All-Big Ten selection, in the bid for a breakthrough. UCLA opens the season Monday evening against Long Beach State at the Pyramid in Long Beach.

Opinion time

So, does UCLA’s football team rally immediately against the soft pocket of its schedule — consecutive games against UNLV, New Mexico and Northwestern — or fall further into despair before facing Penn State on Oct. 4 at the Rose Bowl?

The Bruins go 3-0 over their next three games

The Bruins go 2-1 over their next three games

The Bruins go 1-2 over their next three games

The Bruins go 0-3 over their next three games

Click here to vote in our survey.

Poll results

We asked, “How do you see the season playing out for UCLA and its new quarterback?”

The results, after 564 votes:

Iamaleava leads a resurgence to a bowl game, 68.6%

Iamaleava plays well but his team struggles, 16.7%

Iamaleava leads UCLA to the CFP, 7.6%

Iamaleava struggles for a losing team, 7.1%

In case you missed it

Plaschke: DeShaun Foster drags the Bruins into another embarrassment

UCLA’s big training camp secret exposed by Utah in Bruins’ blowout loss

College football is back! Can USC and UCLA bounce back into relevance?

His Tennessee turmoil behind him, Nico Iamaleava forges a happy UCLA homecoming

It just changes things’: Donovan Dent’s arrival quickens UCLA’s pace, pulse

Have something Bruin?

Do you have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future UCLA newsletter? Email me at [email protected], and follow me on X @latbbolch. To order an autographed copy of my book, “100 Things UCLA Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die,” send me an email. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

DESMOND HOWARD has signed a big-money extension with ESPN.

The 55-year-old former wide receiver will continue his 20-year stint at the broadcaster following negotiations.

1

The Heisman trophy winner said: “I am thrilled to continue this journey with ESPN.

“There’s nothing I’d rather be doing during the fall than showcasing the incredible sport that we all love alongside my College GameDay family.”

The channel’s content president Burke Magnus was thrilled with the new deal.

He said: “Desmond has played a pivotal role in ESPN and College GameDay’s success for two decades, so we’re thrilled that the Heisman Trophy winner and one of college football’s all-time greats will continue to offer his analysis and perspective – and, of course, occasional friendly jabs – across our coverage.”

The former Michigan Wolverines ace gave one of the most iconic highlights of all time when he struck the famous trophy pose after a return touchdown against archrival Ohio State. 

Howard also etched his place in football history as one of only four men to win the Heisman and the Super Bowl MVP. 

Howard landed that honour with the Green Bay Packers, scoring a kickoff return touchdown to help lead the team to a victory in Super Bowl XXXI.

Michigan retired Howard’s iconic No. 21 jersey in 2015 after he was the first receiver in Big Ten history to lead the conference in scoring. 

Howard set or tied five NCAA records and 12 single-season Michigan records.

In 1991, he won the Heisman Trophy by the second-largest margin in history, claiming 85 percent of the vote.

By day, he helps audience members find their seats. By night, he’s onstage, commanding them. For actor Tyrone Huntley, the hustle is part of the role in Los Angeles.

Less than 48 hours after raising his voice to the heavens as Simon in the Hollywood Bowl’s electric, weekend-only production of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” Huntley was back at the iconic amphitheater — not under the lights, but beneath them — wearing a white polo and usher’s badge, guiding concertgoers to their seats.

“It was surreal getting back to work and being on the other side of the stage,” Huntley said, overhearing people talk about the early August show days later. “They didn’t know who I was, so I was just listening and smiling and knowing that we certainly made an impression.” Even marketing staff at the Bowl noticed, posting him on TikTok in a clip seen by some 30,000 viewers so far.

Tyrone Huntley, center, performs as Simon in “Jesus Christ Superstar” at the Hollywood Bowl, alongside Cynthia Erivo as Jesus, left.

(Farah Sosa)

Huntley is one of many working actors caught between ambition and survival. As film and TV production in the region drops to historic lows, many industry workers have turned to service jobs or side gigs to stay in the entertainment capital. The region’s slowdown has been brutal: the twin strikes of 2023, studio belt-tightening, productions lured out of state and wildfires that shuttered work this year. The result is fewer auditions, shorter runs and a scramble for survival jobs — even for performers who’ve just taken center stage.

The U.K.-born actor knows both sides. Trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, Huntley leaped immediately into a U.K. tour of “Sister Act” — alongside his future co-star Erivo — spending more than a decade in London original casts such as “Memphis,” “Dreamgirls” and “The Book of Mormon.”

Coincidentally, his breakout role came in 2016 when he landed the co-lead as Judas in “Jesus Christ Superstar” at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. The performance earned him an Evening Standard Theatre Award and a Laurence Olivier Award nomination. “It gave me the confidence to think big,” Huntley said. He later reprised Judas on the North American tour in 2021 after the previous lead was arrested for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.

Huntley moved to Los Angeles in 2022 with an eye on the silver screen but found himself arriving in a city still wobbling. “Artistically, it just feels like everyone is struggling,” he said. For the last three years, Huntley’s flown back and forth to London — most recently for an acclaimed “Hello, Dolly!” revival with Imelda Staunton — using steady West End paychecks to bankroll life in L.A. And being a member of Actors’ Equity Assn., the stage actors’ union in the U.S., helps cover health insurance costs here, not a consideration he may have in the U.K. where coverage is free.

Tyrone Huntley stands in his usher uniform in front of the stage where just a few weeks earlier he played Simon alongside Cynthia Erivo’s Jesus in “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

For actors like Huntley, the financial backdrop is hard to ignore. California nearly scrapped its new Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund, which subsidizes nonprofit programs, this year before lawmakers restored it. L.A. County trimmed back its arts grants, forcing small theaters to do more with less. And in Washington, the Trump administration has moved to roll back federal arts funding, leaving some local companies without crucial National Endowment for the Arts support.

Determined to stay in L.A., Huntley auditioned for the Bowl’s “Jesus Christ Superstar” 2025 production, this time as Simon Zealotes, the fiery apostle with one of the show’s most rousing anthems. The casting was headline-making: Erivo, fresh off “Wicked,” as Jesus, and Adam Lambert as Judas. The production was hailed as “the musical theater version of the Avengers,” with theater critic Charles McNulty praising the supernova of talent that lit up the Bowl like a rock concert.

A few months before opening night, Huntley picked up usher shifts at the same venue. The Bowl granted him three weeks off for rehearsals in July, where he also understudied as Erivo’s Jesus. He also got time off to fly back across the pond for a series regular spot on Channel 4’s upcoming “A Woman of Substance.” He described working at the Bowl as fair, easygoing work that keeps him close to live performance, with the added perk of watching Bob Dylan, Earth, Wind & Fire, and the L.A. Phil. “They know a lot of us are working actors, musicians, writers, so they’re very flexible in giving us time to pursue our careers,” he said.

One highlight of working as an usher is that Tyrone Huntley gets to see acts like Herbie Hancock perform at the Hollywood Bowl.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

At the Bowl, ushers perform the invisible choreography that keeps the night in motion — steering picnic baskets and seat cushions toward the right rows and soothing the occasional ticket snafus or crises. It’s common for the ushering job to be summer gigs — or even first jobs. There are anywhere from 300 to 400 ushers for the season, with more than 100 working per night.

Huntley sees his dual roles as emblematic of the life of an artist here. “I have to support myself, that’s the case for most of us, especially in L.A.,” he said. “Sometimes you can have a proper job and do the acting as well. It’s not all showbiz parties and award shows. Sometimes incredible opportunities come along, you do them, and then you get back to normal. You can do both — and the pressure isn’t always to be on the stage.”

Chaotic footage was captured Saturday night at Rose Bowl Stadium of a man brutally beating a woman in the stands during a Rüfüs Du Sol concert. Other concertgoers expressed shock over the incident, and some attendees said they were concerned about crowd control and safety measures at the sold-out show.

The video, shared by festival news platform Festive Owl, shows a man knocking a woman to the ground and repeatedly throwing punches at her while other attendees try to pull him back.

“This man punched me in the face, knocking me out and causing significant bleeding, while he continued attacking our group,” the woman wrote in a message shared by Festive Owl. She is asking for the public’s help in identifying the man after the attack, which took place in Section 12-H, Row 20 at the venue.

The victim said the man became agitated after a drink was accidentally spilled on him. According to the woman, he then yelled that the spill was intentional and stormed off before returning 30 minutes later screaming and threatening violence.

“I tried to calm the situation and apologized again — and the next thing I remember I woke up in a medical tent an hour later and missed the entire show,” the woman wrote.

The Australian electronic music trio said in a statement shared on social media Monday night that they were heartbroken to hear about the act of violence that took place during the opening act of their show. They encouraged anyone with information on the incident to contact the Pasadena Police Department.

“This type of behavior is completely unacceptable anywhere and the fact that this happened at one of our shows was devastating to hear about,” the group wrote. “Local law enforcement is actively investigating the situation.”

The concert organizers were criticized on social media, with fans complaining about long lines, the packed venue and poor crowd control, with some citing fears that it could have turned into a tragedy similar to the fatal crowd crush at 2021 Astroworld.

“It was honestly out of control. It was a circus. It was not safe, and I’m very angry,” a concertgoer identified as Derek told NBC4 News.

Christina Molina told KTLA News that the venue was so packed people were watching the show from the walkway.

“I literally had people pressed up against my back, all of them blocking that entire walkway,” she told the station. “Crowd control was nonexistent.”