Chris Stapleton performs at the 50th annual CMA Awards in Nashville, Tenn., on Nov. 2, 2016. Stapleton will hit next month’s Super Bowl stage to sing the national anthem, while R&B legend Babyface will perform “America the Beautiful.” (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)
Anticipation around Super Bowl LVII was already mounting with the reveal of Rihanna as the halftime performer and now the league has unveiled its full slate of scheduled performances for the big day.
While fans (and teams) still have to get through the conference championship round to see who will compete for the Vince Lombardi trophy, the NFL announced that eight-time Grammy award winner Chris Stapleton will be performing the national anthem.
Babyface arrives at the 80th annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
Meanwhile, Babyface, who has notched 12 Grammy awards and 125 top 10 performing hits, was tapped to perform his rendition of America the Beautiful.
Perhaps the biggest and most welcome surprise is that actor Sheryl Lee Ralph will perform the song widely known as the Black national anthem, Lift Every Voice. The announcement of Ralph's involvement with the Super Bowl comes on the heels of her first Emmy win for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series for her role as Barbara Howard in Abbott Elementary.
Actor Troy Kotsur, who won an Oscar for his role in CODA, is set to perform the national anthem in sign language, Colin Denny, a member of the Navajo Nation based in Arizona will sign America the Beautiful, and deaf performer Justina Miles will sign Lift Every Voice.
The blockchain has made its way into a slew of industries. Next at bat ー the sports world. The Los Angeles Dodgers are moving away from traditional promotions and have begun using crypto tokens to give away digital bobbleheads to fans. Ralph Esquibel, VP of information technology for the team, said this is the first giveaway of its kind and could lead to more experiments with cryptocurrencies.
Naz Aletaha, head of esports partnerships for Riot Games, said that the "priceless" experiences with new global sponsor Mastercard will start with the world championships in October, offering premium content and behind the scenes access to the biggest event for esports lovers.
Mastercard, seeing a market opening in the skyrocketing popularity of esports, signed a deal to become first global sponsor for Riot Games' "League of Legends." Raja Rajamannar, chief marketing and communications officer for Mastercard, said the company will become exclusive payment service provider for the game. The deal represents the largest mainstream sponsorship thus far in the esports world.
As the online gaming world continues to boom, professional sports organizations are working to marry the online and physical sports world. Hugh Weber, president of the New Jersey Devils, said that there is a way for live esports events to be compelling enough to translate to ticket sales.
The company's recent growth on the back of a newly invigorated gaming segment is only the beginning, according to president and CEO Bracken Darrell. He said in an interview on Cheddar that esports could become "the biggest sport in the world," and Logitech will be there as its top hardware provider.
If you had any lingering doubts that eSports had gone mainstream, they would have been erased when the North American League of Legends Summer Split took over the Oracle Arena ー home to the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors. Cheddar was there for the last stop before the World Championships in South Korea next month.
