Coronavirus or no coronavirus, the Super Bowl doesn’t stop. Super Bowl LVI, the 2022 NFL championship game, is scheduled to be played on Feb. 13 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, but the league has already said there’s a contingency plan to possibly move the game to AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, should a California COVID-19 lockdown make that necessary.
Even though the Super Bowl’s location is more up in the air this year than normal, there are a number of things we already know about the big game. Here’s a look at what’s expected.
What date is the Super Bowl?
The big game will kick off Sunday, Feb. 13, the day before Valentine’s Day. That’s one week later than usual, because the NFL added a game to its regular season this year, pushing everything back a week.
What time does the Super Bowl start?
Ah, that’s one of the most Googled questions on the internet. The game is set to start at 3:30 p.m. PT/6:30 p.m. ET, but if you’re still taking snacks out of the oven at that time, no worries — there’s enough fanfare, pomp and circumstance that foot rarely hits ball until 20 minutes or so after that.
And if you want to start the football hoopla early, there’s a whole day of pregame shows, featuring things like game predictions and feature segments on the players and coaches.
Which teams are still in the running?
The first couple of weekends of the NFL Playoffs have reduced the field from 14 to four. This weekend will have the Bengals visit the Chiefs at 12 p.m. PT (3 p.m. ET) on CBS in the AFC Championship game, while the 49ers will head to SoFi Stadium to take on the Rams at 3:30 p.m. PT (6:30 p.m. ET) on Fox in the NFC Championship game.
The winners of each matchup will meet in the Super Bowl.
How do I watch the Super Bowl?
Super Bowl LVI will be broadcast live on NBC. You can also stream the game live on Peacock or the NBC Sports app. The game will be aired in Spanish on NBC sister network Telemundo.
NBC, CBS and Fox have previously rotated showing the game, with ABC set to rejoin the group in the future. This was supposed to be a CBS year, but back in 2019 NBC and CBS made a deal to trade years so that NBC could show both the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics in the same month of 2022. The Winter Olympics begin Feb. 4 in Beijing, so NBC will have to adjust its Olympic programming accordingly on Super Bowl Sunday.
Best options for streaming the Super Bowl
Here are our recommendations for the best ways to watch the Super Bowl without cable. Each of the major live TV streaming services offers NBC and a free trial, but it’s not a guarantee that each service carries your local NBC station, so check the links below to make sure.
Peacock
Carries the Super Bowl live
It’s currently unclear whether Peacock will require its $5 Premium service to watch the Super Bowl, as it has with other playoff games, or will let fans watch the big game for free. Asked about this, Peacock rep told CNET, “We’ll have more on the Super Bowl soon.” We’ll update this section when we know more.
