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Globe and Mail
28-05-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Former smartphone titan BlackBerry is back, with a new CEO and autonomous driving tech at the wheel
As a kid, John Giamatteo had a single dream: to one day lead an NFL team to the Super Bowl, just like his underdog-turned-icon hero, Joe Namath. But by his sophomore year of high school, he knew it wasn't going to happen. He'd virtually stopped growing, ending up at 5-foot-9, and his coach dropped him from quarterback to defence. That's when his dad—a one-time phone repairman-turned-manager—gave his crestfallen son a pep talk. 'He pulled a pen out of his pocket and said, 'You're going to make a career with this pen. You're going to get an education, and you're going to have a professional career. That's going to be your journey,'' Giamatteo recalls more than 40 years later. That journey led him to begin his career at Nortel Networks in the 1980s. Now the native of Long Island, N.Y., has the first quarterback gig of his career, leading another notorious Canadian tech company: BlackBerry Ltd. Before we go any further, yes, BlackBerry is still a thing. If you haven't been paying attention (and you're not alone), the company that popularized the smartphone and built Waterloo, Ont., into a tech hub, gave up on handsets in 2016, and went all in on software and services. Through its QNX subsidiary, it's now a leading supplier to automakers of the sophisticated operating systems that underpin autonomous and advanced driver-assistance functions. If your car stops you from veering into oncoming traffic, you probably have BlackBerry to thank. It also sells secure communications software to governments, and critical infrastructure providers like ports and nuclear power plants. That's not to say the company formerly known as Research In Motion was in particularly good shape when Giamatteo became CEO in December 2023. Under his predecessor, John Chen—hired in November 2013 to be its saviour—revenue growth was tepid, and the company was bleeding cash. BlackBerry was a jumble of businesses, and the board was considering a spinout of QNX to revive the stock, which was languishing at under $4, about where it had been 20 years earlier. (All currency in U.S. dollars.) A year and a half later, BlackBerry is on its most stable footing since the iPhone and Android blew up its business in the late 2000s. Giamatteo and his team have slashed $150 million in annual costs, refinanced its debt, cut the headcount by 37%, shed more than a quarter of its real estate space and sold its once-promising cybersecurity business, Cylance, for a huge discount. BlackBerry has also narrowed its net loss to near break-even—though the bigger story is that adjusted operating earnings have soared, and it's generating cash again. The stock jumped in December on the Cylance news and soared above $6 early this year, though it's since given up its gains thanks to the economic uncertainty unleashed by Donald Trump. But company followers are happy with the rebirth in motion. 'The tough decisions that needed to be made have been made,' says Niall O'Keeffe, co-founder of Fifthdelta, a U.K. hedge fund manager that bought into BlackBerry in 2021. Giamatteo, he says, has put BlackBerry 'back on offence, where it's generating cash and can actually invest in the fast-growing areas.' Even EdgePoint Wealth Management—which invested in BlackBerry between 2008 and 2012, and later called that a mistake—has bought back in, amassing 12.2 million shares. With revenue of $535 million in its last fiscal year, the company now has greater control over its destiny than at its 2011 peak, when that topline number was $19.9 billion. It 'has completely turned the corner,' says BlackBerry's chair, Dick Lynch, who oversees a board that has largely turned over in the past couple of years. 'We know the businesses we're in, we know how to optimize those businesses, and we know what we need to do to grow them.' Giamatteo, Lynch adds, 'has been a very positive, transformative event.' But investors expect more. 'It's always going to be, 'What will you do next year?'' Giamatteo says. One part of that answer is: Deliver solid revenue growth at QNX. But it also means confronting a decision in the not-too-distant future that could cut much of BlackBerry's ties to Waterloo. 'Anything is on the table if it makes sense for shareholders.' Giamatteo is nothing like BlackBerry CEOs past. He's not mercurial and sharkish like Jim Balsillie or a technologically consumed genius like Mike Lazaridis. He certainly bears no resemblance to the soft-spoken Thorsten Heins, the towering German technocrat who briefly succeeded the company's longtime co-CEOs. And he's a dramatic departure—a welcome one, according to employees—from the aloof and imperious Chen. As CEO, Chen had his own car and driver (paid for by BlackBerry), flew by private jet for work (or, if a jet wasn't available, in first class—a stipulation in his contract), and travelled with an entourage that included a security detail and chief of staff. Giamatteo, meanwhile, is perfectly happy to fly coach on cross-country hops (he's based in Dallas but typically visits Canada at least once a quarter). His hotel of choice is distinctly middlebrow, too: Hilton's Homewood Suites or La Quinta. 'He's a kind of Bruce Springsteen of the executive world,' says chief people officer Jennifer Armstrong-Owen, who joined Giamatteo at BlackBerry after working with him at Seattle-based RealNetworks in the 2000s, one of several former co-workers who followed him on his Canadian adventure. 'He's the same person to the bellhop, to the waiter, as he is to a CEO.' With his slicked-back salt-and-pepper hair, fondness for business-casual attire and distinctive accent reminiscent of fellow Long Islander Billy Crystal, Giamatteo comes off as a congenial what-you-see-is-what-you-get everyman (one who says 'holy cow' a lot). He's not the visionary type. 'I'm more of the operational guy who's making the trains run on time,' he says. Chen was no visionary, either, but he was paid like one. When he was hired in 2013, fresh off his turnaround of database software vendor Sybase, Chen received stock awards worth more than $84 million, with a salary of $1 million and a guaranteed annual bonus of $2 million. When his contract was renewed in 2018, he got another $106.3 million worth of stock awards. Giamatteo, meanwhile, is paid $700,000 annually and can earn up to that amount in bonus, though it's not guaranteed. His stock award upon becoming CEO was worth just $6 million. 'I like to think of myself as a pretty simple person,' says Giamatteo, who has three adult daughters with his wife, Stephanie. 'I live a private life. I'm very family oriented. I generally don't get too involved in that kind of media stuff.' Indeed, it took a year to persuade him to sit down with Report on Business magazine for his first media interview as CEO. That might not be due solely to Giamatteo's modesty. In April 2024, four months after his appointment, a former executive sued both Giamatteo and BlackBerry for sexual harassment, discrimination and wrongful termination. By November, a California judge had tossed all complaints against him and many (but not all) claims against BlackBerry. 'I'm very pleased that all of the claims against me were dismissed with prejudice, which is a statement,' he says (this means the claims can't be refiled). 'I know who I am. I know my values that I was brought up with.' By his own account, Giamatteo had an 'extraordinarily happy' childhood in the largely middle-class hamlet of Bellmore, N.Y., on the south shore of Long Island, within walking distance of his extended family. When his two older siblings moved out, they stayed in Bellmore, too. 'It was definitely our family town,' he says. The Giamatteos were staunch Italian Catholics, and every weekend they piled into the station wagon and headed to church, where John was an altar boy. When he wasn't at mass or in school, he was usually outside playing street hockey, baseball and, of course, football. In 1986, during his second year of undergrad at St. John's University, a private Catholic school in Queens, Giamatteo had two life-altering experiences: He spent a term in Europe, which opened his eyes to the world beyond Bellmore; and he applied for a summer internship at Nortel, at his sister-in-law's suggestion. He spent the summer at Nortel's Wall Street office, and after graduating from St. John's, he returned as a financial analyst supporting regional sales teams. For Nortel, those were the glory days. AT&T had been busted up earlier that decade, and all those recently hatched 'Baby Bells' were upgrading their networks with digital switching and transmission technology. Giamatteo gained notice in the early 1990s after he internally championed a team member's suggestion that Nortel aggressively lowball its bid for a big switching contract. By foregoing margins on the deal, Nortel could win higher-margin sales of follow-on offerings once the equipment was installed. The gambit worked, and it influenced how Nortel bid on contracts elsewhere. Giamatteo joined Nortel's leadership development program, rotating through sales, customer support and product roles before landing a coveted international posting in 1999 in Asia, overseeing a sevenfold sales increase in Korea. After the telecom bubble burst in 2001, he was sent to Japan to rationalize the business and return it to profitability—which he did. By his late 30s, Giamatteo was president of Nortel Asia Pacific, with his eye on the CEO suite. It wasn't meant to be at Nortel, however. After an accounting scandal consumed the company, Giamatteo moved to Seattle in 2005, becoming chief operating officer of streaming pioneer RealNetworks, where he lasted five years before his young family got tired of the rain. In 2010, they uprooted for Dallas, where he became COO of an insurance software provider called Solera Global Technology. He was supposed to run the business while the CEO focused on the big picture, but things didn't go according to plan. 'Four months into the job,' he says, 'I realized the CEO didn't really want to let go.' From there, he moved to cybersecurity business AVG Technologies, again as COO, to help take it public. 'We needed someone who had the maturity, could build the systems to take things we were doing and grow it,' says Dale Fuller, then AVG's chair. 'John was an integral part of that. He had the natural skills to be a leader.' AVG went public, but the board passed over Giamatteo in favour of a higher-profile outsider as CEO. Disappointed, he hit the road again, landing in 2013 at cybersecurity giant McAfee as president and chief revenue officer of its consumer business. Private equity firm TPG bought control of McAfee in 2017 and signed senior leaders to three-year contracts. When those were up, Giamatteo was packaged out. At 53, he was well off, unemployed and unable to work for a rival for a year. As the pandemic took hold, he got fit, golfed and cooked, wondering whether to get back in the game. Then BlackBerry called looking for someone to run its cybersecurity division. Even though it wasn't for the top job, Giamatteo was keen, once his non-compete ended. He figured the CEO post would open up before long, since Chen was in his mid-60s. 'He'd been a bridesmaid for a long time,' says John Dimitropoulos, who worked with Giamatteo at Nortel, RealNetworks and McAfee, and is now BlackBerry's chief strategy officer. 'He said to me, 'I think this is the one.'' By the time Giamatteo joined BlackBerry in 2021, Chen's lustre was long gone. The veteran Silicon Valley turnaround artist had arrived eight years earlier, initially skeptical he could fix the floundering smartphone franchise but lured with that rich stock award. BlackBerry was in full-blown crisis. Its touchscreen phones, based on the new BlackBerry 10 operating system, were a flop. During Chen's first few months, BlackBerry shed thousands of employees, wrote down unsold phone inventory and sold off most of its real estate. That year, BlackBerry posted a $5.9-billion net loss. Chen was loath to let the phone business die on his watch, but after three years of further declines, he gave up. Fortunately, the business remained a significant source of cash. CrackBerry users who clung to their devices kept paying service fees that yielded $3.5 billion during Chen's tenure. And its server software, originally used by organizations to manage their BlackBerrys, and later other mobile devices, remained a viable, albeit declining, business known today as BlackBerry Unified Endpoint Management. Meanwhile, BlackBerry copied other fallen tech stars by shaking down companies it claimed were using its trove of intellectual property, suing if necessary to get them to pay for licences. Those efforts generated another $1.4 billion in revenue over the eight fiscal years ended Feb. 28, 2023. The company even won a $940-million arbitration award from chipmaker Qualcomm in 2017 after overpaying upfront royalties for phone sales that never materialized. While those revenues kept BlackBerry alive, it couldn't remain a corporate fungus feeding off decaying assets forever. Chen believed its traditional strength in cybersecurity was a solid foundation for expansion. In 2014 and 2015, BlackBerry paid a combined $765 million for three companies that today make up the core of its Secure Communications business: secure messaging company Secusmart; AtHoc, maker of a crisis communications platform for government agencies; and Good Technology, a rival device-management business. The stock had a decent run, and in spring 2018, BlackBerry reported its first annual net profit in six years. 'I would not call us in a turnaround mode anymore,' Chen told Bloomberg TV. 'Now we're really delivering.' Lead director Prem Watsa, who'd recruited Chen and was chair of the compensation, nomination and governance committee, negotiated a five-year contract extension for the CEO. Later that year, BlackBerry bought Cylance for $1.4 billion, its biggest acquisition ever. But BlackBerry's results remained choppy, and none of the acquired businesses seemed to blossom. Plus, the senior ranks were in constant flux: A former Boeing and Cisco executive joined as president in 2019 and left that same year. His replacement lasted just 17 months. Cylance founder Stuart McClure got $29 million in restricted equity to stick around after the acquisition because the board deemed his leadership critical. He bolted after just a few months, leaving behind his earn-out. Chen's autocratic, distant management style didn't help. 'He'd remind you in executive meetings that he was the decider,' says one BlackBerry insider. Few employees ever got the chance to meet him, since he worked from an office in San Ramon, Calif. (Chen didn't respond to an interview request.) Meanwhile, Chen's pay package generated unwelcome attention, which picked up after BlackBerry's stock price quadrupled and then retreated over a few days in January 2021. Retail investors, spurred by social media investment mavericks like WallStreetBets, were speculating wildly in shares of faded companies like GameStop, AMC and, yes, BlackBerry. The 'meme stock' moniker embarrassed the company's employees and perplexed regulators. 'No one had ever seen that sort of thing before,' says Lynch. 'It was a disruption to the evidence of what progress we were actually making.' CFO Tim Foote, who led investor relations at the time, had built BlackBerry's credibility with institutional investors, only to see many sell into the rally. 'And then they were all gone,' he says. 'By the time the tide goes out, you were back to square one.' Even worse, the meme-stock surge unlocked three million of Chen's restricted stock units that were meant to vest when they hit certain price thresholds—but from a fundamentals-driven share-price appreciation, not a bogus rally. Chen's windfall automatically triggered the sale of $24.8 million of his stock to cover his tax bill. That wasn't his fault, but the optics were terrible. At BlackBerry's annual meeting in June 2022, goaded by proxy advisers including Glass Lewis & Co., shareholders flunked the company in a non-binding say-on-pay vote. They also nearly voted out Watsa, whose Fairfax Financial is BlackBerry's largest investor. Watsa left the board in February 2024. Chen's final year at BlackBerry was grim. A $600-million sale of its legacy smartphone patents fell through when the buyer couldn't raise the necessary financing, and BlackBerry finally unloaded the portfolio in early 2023 for $200 million plus future royalties. That prolonged sale process suppressed licensing revenue, which diminished cash flow. So did weaker financial performance by its cybersecurity business. Cash and short-term investments dwindled, and BlackBerry faced a deadline to repay $365 million in debentures in late 2023 (which it partly financed by issuing higher-yielding notes after Giamatteo took over). The stock reached its lowest level in 20-plus years, down 40% from when Chen joined. There was little the board could do, however. Chen's contract contained a time bomb. If he was terminated—or even if the board reduced his authority, duties or responsibilities, or made a material change to strategy that he disagreed with—it would force the vesting of a $90-million cash payment. In its weakened state, BlackBerry couldn't afford to ditch him. 'It totally neutralized the board,' says another company insider. 'They were not able to make John do anything he didn't want to do. They were stuck with him' until his contract expired on Nov. 3, 2023. By that time, the board had a good idea who its next CEO would be. It had quietly initiated a process to select someone who understood the business and its complexities, and who would 'be credible in all aspects, to all audiences,' as Lynch puts it. Giamatteo, he says, 'had a following of people who thought he was really good at what he did.' The quarterback from Long Island was finally getting the callup—albeit to what looked like a last-place team. It was mid-October 2024, and analysts were gathered at the New York Stock Exchange for BlackBerry's first investor day of the Giamatteo era. The morning event kicked off with a video that started with one question on a big screen: 'Do you know what the company BlackBerry does today?' What followed were responses from random people on the streets of New York. 'Uhhh, I didn't know they still existed,' one man said. A young woman recoiled in disbelief that BlackBerry was even still alive. Moments later, Giamatteo emerged onstage. 'When people hear the name BlackBerry,' he told the crowd, 'quite often one question comes to mind: 'BlackBerry, are you still around?'' Over the next few hours, he and his team would highlight what they'd been up to over the past 10 months. Breaking the ice with a little humility signalled Giamatteo wasn't afraid to address the company's challenges and faded legacy. Giamatteo's down-to-earth leadership style has already lightened the mood inside BlackBerry. He readily mixes with employees and is 'not this iconic thing you're never going to talk to who stands on a pedestal. He's just in the group—no entourage, no security,' says QNX's COO, John Wall. 'It's a completely different style' than Chen's. Phil Kurtz, BlackBerry's chief legal officer, adds that when Giamatteo holds town halls, he feeds off employees' energy rather than just broadcasting remotely to the masses. 'He wants and accepts very candid feedback,' says Kurtz. 'It's easy to feel appreciated.' BlackBerry has undergone more than a culture shift. Giamatteo has remade how the company operates. And while it hasn't quite regained darling status among investors, hundreds of millions of people still use BlackBerry's products. The company's standout division is QNX, whose sophisticated operating system dominates the so-called software-defined vehicle (SDV) space even more than BlackBerry once did the handset market. Today, roughly one-fifth of cars built each year are software-defined, and QNX is in 90% of them. That's more than 255 million vehicles with QNX on board. And as automakers increasingly shift to building computers on wheels, QNX sits in pole position. When two ex-Citadel hedge fund managers set up Fifthdelta in 2021 to invest in industrial companies in the automotive space, everyone they surveyed talked up SDV. 'And what was consistent across every original equipment manufacturer, every car company, was QNX,' says O'Keeffe. When they started digging, he says, 'we got very excited.' Car makers were abandoning their own software-development efforts and choosing QNX. The product was cheap—automakers pay an average of about $10 per car—so those that chose QNX were unlikely to replace it. Within months, BlackBerry was Fifthdelta's top holding. QNX was founded in 1980, building the nucleus of powerful operating systems. Its tech was embedded in Cisco routers, nuclear power plants, air traffic control systems and credit card authorization systems. By the time BlackBerry bought the Ottawa-based company in 2010 for $200 million (it had been owned since 2004 by car stereo maker Harman International), it was also making digital infotainment systems for upscale cars. That's not what interested Lazaridis, however: He wanted QNX engineers to build BlackBerry's next mobile-device OS. BlackBerry 'couldn't have cared less' about QNX's automotive venture, says Kurtz, who worked on the deal. 'It paid its bills. No one did anything to kill it, but it wasn't given a ton of oxygen.' From 2010 to 2014, says Wall, who led QNX's car software group, 'nobody was paying attention to me.' Well, maybe no one inside BlackBerry. While its handset business disintegrated in Waterloo, Apple set up shop next to the QNX facility in Ottawa and began picking off dozens of its engineers to work on its autonomous electric vehicle project, Titan. The defectors included QNX founder Dan Dodge, a University of Waterloo prodigy who preached that software was the key to modern life. (Apple came after Wall, too, but he says he preferred working with customers to hatching internal projects.) Meanwhile, car makers were adopting Google's Android OS for their infotainment needs, and Wall was concerned his business would disappear, 'just like what happened to BlackBerry.' There was an off-ramp, however: Wall's group saw that it could develop other systems inside increasingly digitized vehicles. The group pivoted hard in the mid-2010s, developing advanced driver-assistance and safety systems, then broadened its offerings so customers could use its platform elsewhere in the car, too. QNX was conceding the infotainment war to conquer a much bigger opportunity. By the 2020s, big automakers were asking it to build a vehicle-wide foundational platform that would underpin the digital cockpit, as well as the instrument clusters, surround-view sensor systems—and even support infotainment applications. The ploy worked. In fiscal 2025 (ended Feb. 28), QNX generated revenue of $236 million, up from $130 million in 2021. The long-term fundamentals remain sound, despite some automaker delays and industry uncertainty due to Trump's tariff war. BlackBerry is also exploring further uses for QNX tech in the medical, industrial and rail sectors. As Giamatteo became CEO in late 2023, BlackBerry abandoned a plan to take QNX public but retain majority control. Investors weren't keen on it, says Giamatteo, and he didn't think it was the solution to creating near-term value. Instead, he zeroed in on BlackBerry's cybersecurity division, where he'd spent two years as president. During that time, Giamatteo overhauled its go-to-market sales and marketing strategy, and consolidated its bloated R&D group. With the entire company under his charge, he established QNX and cyber as two standalone units, and focused on stopping the rapid decline in BlackBerry's cash reserves, in part by eliminating roles in finance, legal, HR and IT. As Giamatteo and his team dug deeper, they isolated the cybersecurity unit's biggest problem: Cylance. It had come to market with anti-virus software driven by artificial intelligence that protected devices from the cloud. Revenues grew robustly, reaching $151 million the first full year BlackBerry owned it. But as people worked remotely in the pandemic, making networked devices more vulnerable to attacks, market demand shifted toward products that provided detection, response and remediation—known as EDR—capabilities. While Cylance tried to stop malware invasions, EDR also fought the problem from inside, like battling a rodent infestation. Big companies embraced EDR, and demand for Cylance from Fortune 500 companies withered. Cylance shifted to serving smaller companies, but sales kept declining. It tried to catch up by building its own EDR offerings but that was expensive, and larger competitors vastly outspent it on marketing. By last October's investor day, Cylance was on track to generate $90 million in revenue and lose more than $50 million that fiscal year. BlackBerry couldn't afford to keep that up, Giamatteo told analysts. Another revelation: Cylance's losses obscured a decent bottom-line performance from the rest of the cyber unit. With Cylance, it was barely breaking even. Without Cylance, it was a cash cow, generating $52.3 million in operating profits last year. The management team decided Cylance was 'probably a better asset outside the company,' says Giamatteo. In late 2024, BlackBerry announced it was selling Cylance to U.S.-based Arctic Wolf Networks, paying $144.6 million, barely 10% of what BlackBerry had shelled out for it. Nonetheless, analysts were pleasantly surprised—it was like found money for an asset they'd deemed worthless. The cyber unit (since rebranded as Secure Communications) now has a narrower customer set of governments and critical infrastructure providers, which has focused its sales and marketing efforts, according to Jean Treadwell, the group's marketing VP, and another recruit who worked with Giamatteo at Nortel and McAfee. But the rest of Secure Communications will probably find itself following Cylance out the door eventually. The unit might now have a better financial profile, but O'Keeffe says it remains a hodgepodge of a business that's far less exciting than its corporate sibling. 'Selling is the outcome we'd like to get to eventually,' says O'Keeffe. It's not hard to see why. QNX has a strong long-term growth story. Secure Communications doesn't, and it's dragging down BlackBerry's valuation. Though the units are roughly the same size, QNX is worth far more. CIBC analyst Todd Coupland values it at seven times estimated fiscal 2027 sales and 30 times forecast operating earnings. He pegs the cyber unit's value at three times 2027 sales and 12 times earnings. That makes QNX worth between $2.25 and $5.01 per share, compared to just $0.39 to $1.95 for Secure Communications. BlackBerry has plenty of options. Secure Communications is profitable, resilient and has great customers in a solid market—the ideal profile for a private equity takeout. BlackBerry could sell it and invest the proceeds in QNX, acquire another company, buy back shares or retire its $200-million debt. Or it could hang on and try to squeeze out some growth—though opportunities are limited. Its best hope is Secusmart, whose SecuSuite secure messaging platform features tight protocols and locked-down features that make it a strong alternative to Signal for sensitive government communications—a fact BlackBerry has promoted around Washington, D.C., in the wake of the Signalgate scandal. Or BlackBerry could wait out the current market volatility and keep banking cash from Secure Communications. 'Those are the big questions getting asked' by the company's leadership, says Dimitropoulos. 'Which of those gives the greatest shareholder value and the best return? And if there's a market slowdown, is cash king—or is cash flow king? Is having a big balance sheet the right thing to do in a downturn, or making a bunch of cash flow so you can fund your business through the downturn that might be ahead?' Of course, selling Secure Communications would greatly shrink BlackBerry's presence in Waterloo, and it's a good bet the remaining company would take a new name (probably QNX). Giamatteo doesn't seem particularly sentimental about the prospect. For now, he says, selling is not part of the plan. 'But if we felt the best outcome for shareholders was to divest the business, I don't think we'd hesitate.' But let's give the guy a minute. He's barely arrived, and he's already done what his predecessors failed to do: stop the bleeding and give BlackBerry options. When your biggest problem is figuring out what to do with your growing pile of cash, that's a good start. Your time is valuable. Have the Top Business Headlines newsletter conveniently delivered to your inbox in the morning or evening. Sign up today.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Yahoo
Outdoor dining at its best! Top rooftop restaurants, bars in Palm Beach County
There is magic in the view from a rooftop. The waterfront sparkles. The city looks lovelier. The drinks seem dreamier. And it doesn't have to be a skyscraper rooftop — even a second-floor rooftop view can offer the elevation needed for a little magic. In Palm Beach County, the views from rooftop bars range from sweeping cityscapes in West Palm Beach to a historic lighthouse and marina vistas in Jupiter to looks that are a little bit city, a little bit water. We've compiled a cheat-sheet of local rooftop bars and restaurants. Consider this your handy guide next time you'd like to lift up your drinks-and-bites experience. The rooftop Bar Capri, which is located atop Elisabetta's in downtown West Palm Beach, offers sparkling water views, so there's no doubt about where you are: above the Flagler Drive waterfront, Palm Beach etched in the distance. The relaxing bar and lounge, which has seating for 75 on an open-sided, covered area, offers simple bites: snacks, pizzas, cookies, tiramisu, drinks. Bar Capri: 1185 Banyan Blvd Rooftop, West Palm Beach, 561-342-6699, This rooftop bar gives you that postcard-from-paradise view from above. And that view is punctuated by the iconic Jupiter Lighthouse and its surrounding Inlet waters. Topside at the Beacon is part of the Joe Namath-backed restaurant complex known as Charlie and Joe's at Love Street. Loungey and dotted with fun hanging-basket chairs, Topside is appointed with lush greenery that allows for cozy, open-air conversation nooks. Best outdoor dining near Jupiter Inlet: Restaurants with sparkling waterway views The bites are festive and tapas-size. (Think chickpea fries with Sriracha aioli, roasted oysters, blackened mahi mahi sandwiches with lime-cilantro crema and deconstructed Meyer lemon tarts with Italian meringue.) The drinks are glammed-up tiki. Topside at the Beacon: 1116 Love St., Jupiter, 561-532-3270, Take in the most sweeping, sparkling view of the downtown West Palm Beach waterfront from this rooftop bar. Peer out from Spruzzo, the bar located atop the boutique hotel The Ben, and you'll see the ever-expanding metropolis as well as glimmers of stately Palm Beach island. Spruzzo is the place for enjoying tweaked-classic cocktails like The Ben Old Fashion (WhistlePig Piggyback rye, demerara sugar and bitters). The al fresco bar also offers a full, all-day menu of Mediterranean plates such as crispy calamari with spicy vine-tomato sauce, lollipop-style lamb chops with chimichurri, vegetarian falafel burgers, Positano-inspired fish sandwich with tapenade and fresh, local catch served Livornese-style with tomatoes, olives and capers over soft polenta. Atop The Ben hotel, 251 N. Narcissus Ave., West Palm Beach, 561-655-4001, Walk-ins are welcome. Take in panoramic views of downtown West Palm Beach at this bar, which sits atop the Canopy by Hilton boutique hotel. But there are more than views to be had here. The focused, but well-varied menu is no afterthought. Appetizer offerings range from tostones al pastor to tuna poké tacos to roasted mushroom flatbreads. Main plates include burgers and lobster rolls. And for dessert: fried churros and skillet s'mores chocolate cake. As for drinks, expect a decent range of specialty and classic cocktails, wines and bottle service. At the Canopy hotel, 380 Trinity Pl., West Palm Beach, 561-693-1556, Take the elevator to the top of the mansion-like Restoration Hardware showroom on Okeechobee Boulevard and, if you've never been, prepare to be transported to a dreamscape of sorts. At the upscale RH Rooftop bistro and bar, al fresco tables set amid foliage around a shimmering fountain, beneath chandeliers that reflect the natural light. There's a rooftop courtyard, side seating areas and a loungey terrace that surrounds it all. Grab a drink from the central café counter and find a spot along the terrace for splendid city views. Or settle into a table for full-dining service. The menu is up-market American grill fare, well prepared and stylishly served: a prosciutto and Délice de Bourgogne board with warm baguette and strawberry preserves, crispy artichokes with rosemary aioli, shaved rib-eye on charred garlic bread served au jus, lobster roll, roasted half chicken. A relatively extensive wine list that includes pricey wines by the glass is offered as well as specialty coffees and brunch cocktails. Reservations are accepted via Atop the Restoration Hardware building, 560 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach, 561-804-6826, This party-hearty rooftop bar is a Clematis Street mainstay. With three full bars, deejay-spun music, and copious amounts of youthful energy, Roxy's is open into the wee hours. The newly renovated rooftop now features a pool, adding an extra level of fun to your night out. There's also a full menu of pub fare, which includes pizzas, wings, burgers, and other hefty sandwiches, tuna poke bowls, and plenty of shareable appetizers. 309 Clematis St., West Palm Beach, 561-296-7699, A young, party crowd fills the various floors of this Tex-Mex cantina, where the casual rooftop bar offers city views, nighttime dance music and boozy Sunday brunch. Banko Cantina made its 2016 debut in the revamped site of the historic building once occupied by the old American National Bank on Olive Avenue. The place quickly found a niche in the Clematis Street-area nightlife scene. 114 S. Olive Ave., West Palm Beach, 561-355-1399, Located atop The Ray boutique hotel, which opened in September 2021, this bar and lounge shares the rooftop deck with the hotel's pool and offers both indoor and outdoor seating. Expect a casual vibe, a limited and straightforward menu (salads, sandwiches, shareable raw bar items and small plates) and a batch of creative cocktails (like the Watermelon Sugar, which combines tequila, watermelon, sunflower syrup, lime juice and cucumber slices). At The Ray hotel, 233 NE 2nd Ave., Delray Beach, 561-739-1706, This rooftop bar, which crowns the Courtyard by Marriott Delray Beach hotel, offers panoramic views of the city's eastern edges and plenty of ocean breezes. That's the main attraction. Expect simple bar bites (wings, tenders, pretzels), fairly straightforward cocktails and a daily happy hour. 135 SE 6th Ave., Delray Beach, 561-926-5833 This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Rooftop bars near me: Best spots in Jupiter, West Palm Beach, Delray
Fox Sports
09-02-2025
- Sport
- Fox Sports
What are the 10 best Super Bowls of all time?
There's no sporting event better than the Super Bowl when it's a great game. NFL fans have been lucky that that's been the case more often than not since the turn of the century. Fifteen of the last 25 Super Bowls have been decided by one score, while several others were close late in the fourth quarter. One of those 15 games came two years ago, when the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35 in Super Bowl LVII. Will we see another one-score game when the two meet again in Super Bowl LIX (Sunday, 6:30 p.m. ET on FOX)? That remains to be answered. So, for now, let's rank the 10 best Super Bowls ever. 10 best Super Bowls of all time 10. Super Bowl III (1969): Jets 16, Colts 7 The third Super Bowl might not have provided the greatest display of football ever, but arguably no game in football history was more significant than this one. Preceded by quarterback Joe Namath's guarantee that the Jets would win, the 18-point underdogs pulled off one of the greatest upsets in sports history. Jets running back Matt Snell's 4-yard touchdown run in the second quarter gave New York a 7-0 lead, marking the first time an AFL team held the edge in the Super Bowl. That lead ballooned to 16-0 early in the fourth quarter as the Jets picked up a decisive win that led to the AFL-NFL merger. 9. Super Bowl XXXVI (2002): Patriots 20, Rams 17 More than 30 years after the Jets' Super Bowl victory, the Patriots pulled off an upset that was almost as monumental. Led by second-year quarterback Tom Brady, New England was a two-touchdown underdog to the St. Louis Rams' "Greatest Show on Turf" team that had won the Super Bowl two seasons prior. Yet, the Patriots took a 17-3 lead through the first three quarters, thanks in part to a Ty Law pick-six and a Brady touchdown pass right before halftime. New England nearly went ahead 24-3 early in the fourth quarter, but it had a scoop-and-score wiped out due to a penalty. The Rams eventually tied the game with less than two minutes remaining. Instead of playing for overtime, the Patriots took a chance to win in regulation with no timeouts remaining. Brady led them on a 53-yard drive, setting Adam Vinatieri up to make a 48-yard field goal at the buzzer to win the Super Bowl. 8. Super Bowl XXV (1991): Giants 20, Bills 19 Super Bowl XXV lived up to all the pageantry surrounding it. Before the game, Whitney Houston sang the national anthem, a rendition many view as the best ever in Super Bowl history. After kickoff, Giants defensive coordinator Bill Belichick's game plan to slow down the Bills' lethal passing attack worked to near perfection. Still, Buffalo had a chance to win the game in the final seconds. Scott Norwood had the Lombardi Trophy on his foot with a 47-yard field goal attempt, but it sailed wide right — the first of four straight Super Bowl heartbreaks for the Bills. 7. Super Bowl XXXIV (2000): Rams 23, Titans 16 In Super Bowl XXXIV, the Rams held a commanding 16-0 lead by the middle of the third quarter. At that point, it appeared they would easily get their first Super Bowl championship. That wasn't the case, though. The Titans scored 16 straight points, with Eddie George rushing for two touchdowns before a field goal tied the game with 2:12 remaining. But on St. Louis' first play with the ball back, Isaac Bruce took off for a 73-yard touchdown to give the Rams a 23-16 lead with 1:54 left. Still, Tennessee had another response. It was able to get all the way down to the 10-yard line with six seconds remaining. Steve McNair then found Kevin Dyson on a slant, a few yards short of the end zone. Dyson tried to fight to score the touchdown, extending his arm toward the goal line, but he was tackled a yard short as time expired. 6. Super Bowl XLIX (2015): Patriots 28, Seahawks 24 Super Bowl XLIX nearly served as a passing of the torch. The Seahawks were seeking to become the first team to win back-to-back titles since the Patriots 10 years prior. New England, meanwhile, was looking to keep its dynasty alive with its first Super Bowl win in a decade. After a back-and-forth affair in the first half, Seattle had New England on the ropes in the second half. It got out to a 24-14 lead and was in control of the game heading into the fourth quarter. However, Tom Brady then had, perhaps, the best quarter of football in his career. He engineered two touchdown drives to give the Patriots a 28-24 lead with just over two minutes remaining. It appeared that the Patriots were about to be dealt another Super Bowl heartbreak, though. Jermaine Kearse made a juggling catch that brought the Seahawks to the 5-yard line with over a minute left. But the Seahawks made the most questionable playcall in Super Bowl history two plays later. Sitting at the 1-yard line with just over 20 seconds left, Russell Wilson was intercepted by undrafted rookie Malcolm Butler as star running back Marshawn Lynch didn't get the ball. 5. Super Bowl XIII (1979): Steelers 35, Cowboys 31 The battle between the NFL's two top teams of the '70s — which featured a combined 26 future Hall of Famers — lived up to the hype. Both teams traded scores for most of the game until the third quarter. Trailing 21-14, the Cowboys were on the verge of tying the game again in the final minutes of the quarter. However, Roger Staubach's pass to an open Jackie Smith in the end zone slipped through the tight end's hands, forcing Dallas to settle for a field goal. That play wound up being pivotal as Pittsburgh took a 28-17 lead not long after. The Cowboys then fumbled on the ensuing kickoff return, giving the Steelers a 35-17 cushion one play later. The Cowboys were able to score two late touchdowns, but they couldn't secure an onside kick in the final seconds as Pittsburgh won its third Super Bowl title. 4. Super Bowl XLIII (2009): Steelers 27, Cardinals 23 Super Bowl XLIII featured its share of highlight plays. Steelers edge rusher James Harrison, who won NFL Defensive Player of the Year that season, gave Pittsburgh a 17-7 lead at halftime when he returned an interception 100 yards for a touchdown as time expired. The Cardinals responded in the second half, cutting the Steelers' lead to 20-14 in the middle of the fourth quarter. Pittsburgh gave Arizona even more life when it committed a holding penalty in the end zone, which is a safety by rule. Just three plays later, Larry Fitzgerald ran right past the Steelers defense for a 64-yard touchdown and a 23-20 Cardinals lead with just 2:37 remaining. But Ben Roethlisberger had the drive of his career in the final minutes. He led Pittsburgh 78 yards down the field before throwing a 6-yard touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes, who remarkably tapped his toes inbounds for the score that put the Steelers up 27-23 with 35 seconds remaining. 3. Super Bowl LVIII (2024): Chiefs 25, 49ers 22 Just last season, the Chiefs and 49ers played in one of the most memorable matchups in Super Bowl history, marking just the second time that overtime was needed to decide the game. The 49ers jumped out to a 10-0 lead before the Chiefs made it a 10-6 game in the middle stages of the third quarter. Then, a muffed punt by the 49ers allowed the Chiefs to take their first lead, 13-10. From there, both teams traded scores. Brock Purdy connected with Jauan Jennings for a 10-yard touchdown a few minutes into the fourth, but the extra point was blocked. The next three drives all ended in field goals and a 19-19 score at the end of regulation. San Francisco confusingly opted to receive to start overtime, an ill-advised move considering it gave Kansas City the advantage of knowing what it needed to do in order to tie or win the game under the NFL's new postseason OT rules. The 49ers kicked a field goal after their drive stalled at the Chiefs 9-yard line. The 49ers had the Chiefs on the ropes a few times after that, but Kansas City converted two third downs and a fourth down on its corresponding drive. It culminated with Patrick Mahomes throwing the game-winning touchdown pass to Mecole Hardman and back-to-back championships for the Chiefs. 2. Super Bowl XLII (2008): Giants 17, Patriots 14 In order to end the Patriots' perfect season, the Giants needed a miraculous effort from someone in Super Bowl XLII. The Giants got it from their defensive front. New York sacked Brady five times and hit him countless other times, making it difficult for New England's high-powered offense to score. Nevertheless, the Giants found themselves trailing late after Brady threw a touchdown pass to Randy Moss that gave the Patriots a 14-10 lead with 2:45 remaining. So, New York needed another miracle to win the game. And once again, the Giants got it. A few plays after converting a fourth-and-1, Eli Manning slipped out of the grasp of New England's pass rush on third-and-5 before throwing a prayer down the field. David Tyree leaped up and successfully outbattled Rodney Harrison for the ball, sticking it to his own helmet to come down with a 32-yard gain. Following another third-down conversion, Manning lobbed a ball to Plaxico Burress for a touchdown that gave the Giants a 17-14 lead with 35 seconds remaining. Brady almost connected with Moss on a Hail Mary shot on the ensuing drive, but the Patriots' hopes for an undefeated season ended there as the Giants completed one of the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history. 1. Super Bowl LI (2017): Patriots 34, Falcons 28 The Falcons made Brady look mortal in the first two-plus quarters of Super Bowl LI, with Robert Alford recording an 82-yard pick-six in the closing moments of the first half to help give Atlanta a 21-3 lead at the break. The Falcons eventually extended their lead to 28-3 early on in the third. From there, Brady essentially turned immortal, helping the Patriots go on a run in which nearly every play went in their favor. After cutting the Falcons' lead to 28-12, the Patriots got a strip sack that gave them the ball deep in Atlanta territory. Then, they converted a two-point try after scoring a touchdown. The Falcons seemed like they were about to seal a Super Bowl victory when Julio Jones made a highlight-reel catch that put them at New England's 22-yard line. But a string of negative plays and penalties pushed the Falcons out of field goal range, giving Brady one last chance. On their game-tying drive in the final minutes, Brady and the Patriots converted a third-and-10 deep in their own territory before Julian Edelman made a circus grab in the middle of the field for a 23-yard gain. A few plays later, the Patriots scored a touchdown before tying the game on a two-point conversion with just under a minute remaining. Even the coin toss for overtime went the Patriots' way. As New England only needed a touchdown to win the game in overtime, it methodically moved the ball down the field. James White then rushed for a 2-yard touchdown to cap off an eight-play, 75-yard drive — and one of the most memorable comebacks in sports history. HONORABLE MENTION Super Bowl X (1976): Steelers 21, Cowboys 17 Super Bowl XXIII (1989): 49ers 20, Bengals 16 Super Bowl XXXVIII (2004): Patriots 32, Panthers 29 Super Bowl XLVI (2012): Giants 21, Patriots 17 Super Bowl XLVII (2013): Ravens 34, 49ers 31 Super Bowl LII (2018): Eagles 41, Patriots 33 Super Bowl LVII (2023): Chiefs 38, Eagles 35 Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily! recommended Get more from National Football League Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
New York Times
07-02-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
How to Fake Your Way Through the Super Bowl
Hey, can I ask you something? Just between you and me? Yeah, shoot. I … don't really understand this Super Bowl thing. You don't understand the Super Bowl? The ubiquitous event that dwarfs every other American entertainment option? The seasonal culmination of a sport woven deep within the rich tapestry of a mighty country? Shhh! I don't want everyone to know! Maybe you're not from the United States. Or were the kind of child who watched 'Meet the Press' on Sunday. Or maybe you just prefer pickleball. We've got you covered. You've come to the right place to find out all about this year's Super Bowl with no tears or embarrassment. Great! When is the game, and who's playing? The Super Bowl is the final game of the season of the National Football League, the mammoth league with the $100 billion television contract and teams worth $5 billion or more. This year, the Philadelphia Eagles will face the Kansas City Chiefs in New Orleans on Sunday starting at 6:30 p.m. Eastern on Fox, although pregame coverage starts at 1 p.m. Uh, Chiefs? That wouldn't be a reference to … Yes, Native Americans, and that makes some people pretty uncomfortable. The team in Washington changed its name in 2020 from a slur against Native Americans. Kansas City's name, for now, will not change. Give me some memorable Super Bowl moments. There are so many to choose from. In Super Bowl III in 1969, Joe Namath predicted his New York Jets would beat the heavily favored Baltimore Colts, and then backed up his boast with a victory. To promote their appearance in Super Bowl XX in 1986, members of the Chicago Bears made a cringey pop video, 'The Super Bowl Shuffle,' and then won anyway, by a record margin. The New York Giants upset the undefeated New England Patriots when a player caught the ball by trapping it on his helmet (XLII, 2008). The game has never been canceled, but it has been halted for half an hour by a blackout (XLVII, 2013). Last season (LVIII), Kansas City won in overtime, 25-22. It was the first Super Bowl in which the lead changed hands on the last play. I hear the halftime shows have gotten more elaborate. There have been many memorable Super Bowl halftime shows, including one with a 'wardrobe malfunction' (Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson, XXXVIII, 2004) that was the subject of a New York Times documentary. In the first Super Bowl halftime show in 1967, Al Hirt, the trumpeter and band leader, performed to a live audience of some 67,000 fans. The producers of the N.F.L.'s biggest event of the year have gradually raised the ante of the show's musical acts, from university marching bands decades ago to the world's biggest pop stars, including Madonna, Paul McCartney, U2 and Beyoncé. Last year's performer was Usher; Kendrick Lamar takes the stage this year. Who still uses Roman numerals? The N.F.L. does, except in 2016 when they called it Super Bowl 50 because Super Bowl L looked a little silly. This year's game is the absolutely, positively unsilly-looking Super Bowl LIX. Can you explain the rules of football quickly? OK, but we are going to oversimplify. There are 11 players on a side, but the key player is the quarterback. He takes the oblong ball at the start of each play, and he either hands it to a player who tries to run with it or he throws it downfield for a receiver to catch. Teams have four tries, or 'downs,' to advance the ball at least 10 yards (9.1 meters, but don't get caught saying that when surrounded by football fans). The other team will try to stop them from doing so, a process that often ends with one or more players grabbing the player with the ball and hurling him to the ground abruptly. Sometimes a player will do something wrong (a 'penalty') and the referee will signal this by throwing what looks like a yellow hankie (the announcers will say that 'a flag is on the field'). The field is 100 yards long, and a team making it to the end (the 'end zone') gets 6 points (a 'touchdown,' very good), and 1 more if it can kick a ball through some big metal posts (the 'goal posts') afterward. There are other ways to score, but we promised to keep it simple. Sorry, soccer fans, the game cannot end in a tie. If it does, the teams play 'overtime' until a winner is determined. Wait, why is this sport called football? The feet seem secondary. And is an oblong spheroid really a 'ball?' Amazingly, you are not the first person to make these observations. A hoary joke says that the game should really be called 'hand egg.' American football evolved from 'rugby football' in the late 19th century. The transition came in 1906, when teams began passing the ball forward instead of only backward. The N.F.L. was founded in the 1920s and started the Super Bowl championship game in 1967 after a merger with a smaller upstart, the American Football League. There are several variations of football around the globe. What Americans call soccer is football or fútbol in much of the rest of the world. Canadian football is similar to the American game, but teams can charmingly score a 'rouge,' worth 1 point. Australia's football involves men with very little padding passing the ball by hitting it with their fists. Who are some players to look for on Sunday? The quarterback for Kansas City is Patrick Mahomes, and Philadelphia's is Jalen Hurts. You'll see a lot of them whether you look for them or not. On defense, look for Chris Jones of Kansas City to terrorize Hurts, and Jalen Carter and Zack Baun of the Eagles to do the same against Mahomes. In an era when passing is usually a lot more important than running, the Eagles have a transcendent running back, Saquon Barkley. And a key man for Mahomes to pass the ball to will be … The one who is dating Taylor Swift? You got it. Kansas City's Travis Kelce, perhaps the best player ever at his position, tight end, has raised his profile even more with his relationship with music's global superstar, Taylor Swift. She often attends his games, causing some purists to grumble that shots of her in the luxury boxes are overshadowing the game, although a close look last season revealed her total screen time is actually fairly limited. I hear there's a record on the line. Should Kansas City win, it would become the first team ever to win three consecutive Super Bowls. One caveat though: There were N.F.L. champions long before the name 'Super Bowl' was coined. And the Green Bay Packers won three N.F.L. titles in a row in 1929-31 and 1965-67, with the last two of those being the first two Super Bowls. Give me a slightly sophisticated 'take' to say during the action. When it is fourth down, yell for the team with the ball to try a play ('go for it'), rather than kick the ball away or try for a field goal. Fans have always loved this aggressive strategy, and the game is catching up. While coaches used to routinely kick even when they were inches away from a first down, they now are much more inclined to try for the yards. When in doubt, say 'the game is won in the trenches.' Or 'edge rusher' or 'Tampa 2' or 'Jet sweep.' Your football-loving friends will nod sagely. Can I bet on this? No one knows exactly how much money is bet on the Super Bowl, but it's a lot — more than $10 billion, according to estimates, much of it illegally. The most common way to bet is through the point spread (Kansas City is a 1 1/2-point favorite, meaning they must win by at least 2 points for bettors backing them to cash in). But you can also bet on almost anything related to the game: how many yards a particular player will gain, who will win the coin toss that starts the game or which song Kendrick Lamar will sing first in the halftime show. The game lasts for hours. I think I'll take a break during the commercials. Don't do it. Advertisers spend a fortune to get a slot during the Super Bowl, and then another fortune to create new, funny and memorable ads for the occasion. Especially if the game is a blowout, the ads may be the next day's major talking point. I've heard the sport has a dark side. Sadly, yes. The size of the players and the violence of their hits mean that the possibility of serious injury is always there. Worse, players who take repeated hits to the head risk developing C.T.E., a degenerative brain disease. Players who receive blows to the head now must leave the field and be examined for a concussion. More and more fans are tempering their enjoyment of the sport with the sobering knowledge that the players entertaining us on the field are doing so at grave risk. Now all I need is one funny thing to tell people at the Super Bowl party I've just spontaneously decided to host. Around the time of the game, internet searches for 'Super Bowl' go way up. But so do searches for 'superb owl,' as rapidly typing fans put the space in the wrong place.
Miami Herald
06-02-2025
- Sport
- Miami Herald
When is South Florida getting a Super Bowl? See what happened here in past years
And when you say Miami, you're talking Super Bowl. OK, we can't say that about the Miami Dolphins, even though it is the team song. But the words still ring true when it comes to the Miami area hosting the big game. Miami has hosted 11 Super Bowls. The last one, Super Bowl 54 in 2020, generated over $500 million for the local economy. On February 9, 2025, New Orleans will tie Miami as the city to host the most Super Bowls. The Super Bowl returned to South Florida in 2020 after a 10-year absence. But when is the next Super Bowl lined up at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens? MORE: Want to see World Cup and a football finale? How Miami is luring tourists through sports South Florida hasn't been awarded a Super Bowl through 2028. After the Super Bowl in New Orleans, California hosts two of the next four — at Levi's Stadium in the Bay Area and SoFi Stadium in Southern California. The drought in South Florida hosting Super Bowls is partly due to the NFL changing how it awards them and a flurry of new stadiums, said Rodney Barreto, the Coral Gables-based chairman of the Super Bowl Host Committee in Miami in 2007, 2010 and 2020. 'The NFL typically rewards any city that opens a new stadium,' Barreto said in an interview with the Miami Herald. He said while it's up to the league, he expects South Florida to be considered for the 2029 Super Bowl. But before we look too far ahead, here is a look back through the Miami Herald archives on the Super Bowl games played in South Florida through the years, starting with the Orange Bowl in 1968 up through the most recent one in 2020 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens: Super Bowl II: Green Bay Packers 33 vs Oakland Raiders 14 Stadium: Miami Orange Bowl Date: Jan. 14, 1968 Attendance: 75,546 MVP: Green Bay quarterback Bart Starr Green Bay Coach: Vince Lombardi Oakland Coach: John Rauch National anthem/Halftime show: Grambling State University Band Cost of 30-second commercial: $54,000 Nielsen rating: 36.8 Ticket price: $12 Did You Know? Though the Orange Bowl was sold out for the game, unconditional blackout rules in both leagues prevented the live CBS telecast from being shown in the Miami area. Super Bowl III: New York Jets 16 vs Baltimore Colts 7 Stadium: Miami Orange Bowl Date: Jan. 12, 1969 Attendance: 75,389 MVP: New York quarterback Joe Namath New York Coach: Weeb Ewbank Baltimore Coach: Don Shula National anthem: Anita Bryant Halftime show: Florida A&M Band Cost of 30-second commercial: $55,000 Nielsen rating: 36.0 Ticket price: $12 Did You Know? Joe Namath's historic guarantee came at the Miami Touchdown Club's annual celebration, where he was honored as the league's MVP. Broadway Joe was driven from the Jets hotel in Fort Lauderdale to the event in Miami Springs, and it is believed Namath was sipping a drink that contained a touch of Johnnie Walker Red. Super Bowl V: Baltimore Colts 16 vs Dallas Cowboys 13 Stadium: Miami Orange Bowl Date: Jan. 17, 1971 Attendance: 79,204 MVP: Dallas linebacker Chuck Howley Baltimore Coach: Don McCafferty Dallas Coach: Tom Landry National anthem: Tommy Loy (trumpeter) Halftime show: Florida A&M Band Cost of 30-second commercial: $55,000 Nielsen rating: 39.9 Super Bowl ticket price: $15 Did You Know? The game was played on artificial turf for the first time. The following year, Tulane Stadium would join the Orange Bowl as the only stadiums to host Super Bowls on both natural grass and artificial turf. Super Bowl X: Pittsburgh Steelers 21 vs Dallas Cowboys 17 Stadium: Miami Orange Bowl Date: Jan. 18, 1976 Attendance: 80,187 MVP: Pittsburgh wide receiver Lynn Swann Pittsburgh Coach: Chuck Noll Dallas Coach: Tom Landry National anthem: Tom Sullivan Halftime show: Up with People's Bicentennial Tribute Cost of 30-second commercial: $110,000 Nielsen rating: 42.3 Super Bowl ticket price: $20 Did You Know? Swann was questionable to play after a concussion in the AFC Championship game. But it was Pittsburgh quarterback Terry Bradshaw who left the game with a concussion a second after firing the game-clinching touchdown bomb to Swann. Super Bowl XIII: Pittsburgh Steelers 35 vs Dallas Cowboys 31 Stadium: Miami Orange Bowl Date: Jan. 21, 1979 Attendance: 79,484 MVP: Terry Bradshaw, Quarterback Pittsburgh Coach: Chuck Noll Dallas Coach: Tom Landry National anthem: The Colgate Thirteen Halftime show: Carnival Salute to Caribbean Cost of 30-second commercial: $185,000 Nielsen rating: 47.1 Super Bowl ticket price: $30 Did You Know? Jackie Smith, infamous for dropping the touchdown pass (above), had a Hall of Fame career with the Cardinals before Dallas coaxed him out of retirement for this season. Super Bowl XXIII: San Francisco 49ers 20 vs Cincinnati Bengals 16 Stadium: Joe Robbie Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) Date: Jan. 22, 1989 Attendance: 75,129 MVP: San Francisco wide receiver Jerry Rice San Francisco Coach: Bill Walsh Cincinnati Coach: Sam Wyche National anthem: Billy Joel Halftime show: BeBop Bamboozled Cost of 30-second commercial: $675,000 Nielsen rating: 43.5 Super Bowl ticket price: $100 Did You Know? At halftime, the score was 3-3, the first time in Super Bowl history the game was tied at intermission. Super Bowl XXIX: San Francisco 49ers 49 vs San Diego Chargers 26 Stadium: Joe Robbie Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) Date: Jan, 29, 1995 Attendance: 74,107 MVP: San Francisco quarterback Steve Young 49ers Coach: George Seifert Chargers Coach: Bobby Ross National anthem: Kathie Lee Gifford Halftime show: Tony Bennett, Patti LaBelle, Arturo Sandoval, Miami Sound Machine Cost of 30-second commercial: $1.15 million Nielsen rating: 41.3 Super Bowl ticket price: $200 Did You Know? Steve Young not only passed for a record six touchdowns, he was the game's leading rusher (49 yards). Super Bowl XXXIII: Denver Broncos 34 vs Atlanta Falcons 14 Stadium: Pro Player Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) Date: Jan. 31, 1999 Attendance: 74,803 MVP: Denver quarterback John Elway Denver Coach: Mike Shanahan Atlanta Coach: Dan Reeves National anthem: Cher Halftime show: Gloria Estefan, Stevie Wonder, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy Cost of 30-second commercial: $1.6 million Nielsen rating: 40.2 Super Bowl ticket price: $325 Did You Know? John Elway, in his last game, passed for 336 yards and ran for a touchdown to earn most valuable player honors as the Broncos became the first AFC team to win consecutive Super Bowls since the Steelers won XIII and XIV. Super Bowl XLI: Indianapolis Colts 29 vs Chicago Bears 17 Stadium: Dolphin Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) Date: Feb. 4, 2007 Attendance: 74,512 MVP: Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning Indianapolis Coach: Tony Dungy Chicago Coach: Lovie Smith National anthem: Billy Joel Halftime show: Prince, Florida A&M University Marching 100 Cost of 30-second commercial: $2.6 million Nielsen rating: 42.6 Super Bowl ticket price: $325 Did You Know? Dungy and Smith represented the first time two African-American head coaches faced each other in a Super Bowl. Smith had been on Dungy's staff in Tampa Bay from 1996-2000. Super Bowl XLIV: New Orleans Saints 31 Indianapolis Colts 17 Stadium: Sun Life Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) Date: Feb. 7, 2010 Attendance: 74,059 MVP: New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees Indianapolis Coach: Jim Caldwell New Orleans Coach: Sean Payton National anthem: Carrie Underwood Halftime show: Pete Townsend and Roger Daltrey from The Who Cost of 30-second commercial: $2.5-$2.8 million Nielsen rating: 45.0 Super Bowl ticket price: $325 Did You Know? The Saints onside kick to begin the second half was a gutsy call, but shouldn't have worked — it went right to a veteran wide receiver Hank Baskett. But Baskett bobbled it back t the Saints. The Colts released him the next day. Super Bowl LIV: Kansas City Chiefs 31, San Francisco 49ers 20 Date: Feb. 2, 2020 Attendance: 62,417 MVP: Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes Kansas City coach: Andy Reid San Francisco coach: Kyle Shanahan National anthem: Demi Lovato Halftime show: Jennifer Lopez and Shakira Cost of 30-second commercial: $5.6 million Nielsen rating: 41.6 Super Bowl ticket price: $3,300 Did You Know? This Super Bowl carried the same name, LIV, as the famous nightspot at the Fontainebleau hotel in Miami Beach? And yes, there were celebrity parties there.
