Super Bowl LVIII: A guide to the 49ers' championship rematch against the Chiefs
The stage is set for a Super Bowl rematch between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, Feb. 11 in Las Vegas.
Both teams overcame a season of peaks and valleys, nonstop headlines and the pressure to sustain the success they've enjoyed over the past several years.
The Chiefs are looking to solidify a dynasty, while the 49ers have an opportunity to avenge their heartbreaking loss to Kansas City in Superbowl LIV.
If the game itself doesn't excite you, a highly anticipated Usher performance, wacky commercials and Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce schedule conflicts might.
Super Bowl LVIII has just about everything. Here's what to know.
Details on kickoff
Sometimes, you can get so caught up in planning your Super Bowl that you can lose track of the time the game actually starts.
Super Bowl LVIII is set to kick off at 3:30 p.m. and will be telecast on CBS.
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There will be an alternate telecast airing at the same time on Nickelodeon. The telecast will open with an animated performance of the song "Sweet Victory" from "Spongebob Squarepants."
[twitter align='center' id='1753122447920955496' username='NFL_DovKleiman']https://twitter.com/NFL_DovKleiman/status/1753122447920955496[/twitter]Spongebob or Tony Romo? The choice is yours.
What colors are each team wearing?
[image id='b6c704fb-0d03-47a7-8c93-3e1b1d67af94' mediaId='ec01c833-2318-40a3-81e8-45097d51790f' align='center' size='medium' share='true' caption='' expand='' crop='original'][/image]The Chiefs will wear their red jerseys, while the 49ers will wear white.
Each season, the winners of the American Football Conference (AFC) and National Football Conference (NFC) alternate between which conference representative will be considered the home team in the Super Bowl. The home team gets the first pick over the away team of which color jersey they will wear.
[mediaosvideo align='' embedId='98c905d0-9781-4c23-80d5-a1a6599cbefb' mediaId='1de69b96-db09-409b-9d59-c2debc8aaacb' size=''][/mediaosvideo]The Chiefs represent the AFC and are considered the home team this year.
Kansas City also wore red while the Niners wore white when they met in Super Bowl LIV.
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Free Usher concert!
[image id='d124556d-0407-4cdf-bb74-e3814dc69959' mediaId='348ddddd-d4aa-4c77-84c8-676fafd21cde' align='center' size='medium' share='true' caption='' expand='' crop='original'][/image]Usher was announced in September as the headlining performer for the Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show.
The NFL released a series of ads promoting his performance that included a callback to his iconic "Confessions, Pt. II" music video.
[twitter align='center' id='1705938759567450174' username='NFL']https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1705938759567450174[/twitter]A Las Vegas performance makes all the sense in the world for Usher, who had a residency in the city from June 2022 to December 2023.
Earlier in his superstar career, Usher said it was a goal of his to one day take over Las Vegas and put on an unforgettable show. He's already been doing this, but now, the world will be watching.
[twitter align='center' id='1731378298578444419' username='Usher']https://twitter.com/Usher/status/1731378298578444419[/twitter]“It definitely has been a challenge to squeeze 30 years into 13 minutes,” he said when he addressed the media Thursday in advance of Sunday's Super Bowl.
He said he's been asking himself, “What songs do people know me for, what songs have been a celebration of all of the journey?”
[mediaosvideo align='' embedId='8918adb7-ed33-4247-9982-f7c753190c94' mediaId='20681a67-6191-4229-bdfe-fbafdafe0812' size=''][/mediaosvideo]| MORE | Making the trip to Super Bowl LVIII? Check out these things to do in Vegas
How much does it cost to attend the game?
[mediaosvideo align='' embedId='d3cad7ed-5f4d-4bc1-a331-aea1fa991358' mediaId='6a58b500-d29a-4869-a11e-f6872774eec2' size=''][/mediaosvideo]
Prices for a seat at Allegiant Stadium on Super Bowl Sunday start no lower than $5,000 across multiple ticket vendors.
Below is a roundup of prices As of the morning of Feb. 5.
- Vivid Seats: Tickets are selling from $5,307 on Vivid Seats
- StubHub: Tickets are selling from $5,394 on Stubhub
- SeatGeek: Tickets are selling from $5,773 on SeatGeek
- Ticketmaster: Tickets are selling from $5,800 on Ticketmaster
- TickPick: Tickets are selling from $6,944 on TickPick
- Ticket Network: Tickets are selling from $7,282 on Ticket Network
Keep in mind these are the lowest ticket prices. The average price of a ticket ranges from $9,000-$12,000 across multiple vendor sites.
KCRA 3's Del Rodgers said that when he played in Super Bowl XXIII, ticket prices were $100.
[mediaosvideo align='' embedId='5b85cd05-1644-47f6-8b13-616779b64f1f' mediaId='d536e988-17b1-4e0e-8f87-a2044986966d' size=''][/mediaosvideo]Both teams' road back to the Super Bowl
[mediaosvideo align='' embedId='51431517-854b-45d3-9622-6b44fefac196' mediaId='602659d3-ba09-4223-90c4-21c4c3aa9277' size=''][/mediaosvideo]Often in team sports, greatness can be taken for granted.
Each season ends with just one champion, they're celebrated for a few months, and then the pressure to do it again is immediately back on as if it never happened.
No teams have won more playoff games than the Chiefs (13) and 49ers (8) since the 2019 postseason. The writing was probably always on the wall for them to meet in the Super Bowl again, but you wouldn't know it based on the discourse around both teams since last spring.
The Niners entered this season with a quarterback controversy on their hands.
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Brock Purdy was thrown into the fire in 2022 as a rookie and helped San Francisco make a push to the NFC Championship Game, but he tore a ligament in his elbow in the first quarter and the team got blown out by the Philadelphia Eagles.
Purdy, the last pick in his draft, went undefeated as a starter in the 2022 regular season and brought the team within one game of the Super Bowl, but ahead of the 2023 season, he was coming off an injury to his throwing arm and the 49ers still had to figure out what to do with Trey Lance, who they drafted in 2021.
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Purdy and Lance competed for the starting quarterback spot in training camp. After months of media speculation, 49ers Head Coach Kyle Shanahan made it clear Purdy had won the starting spot, telling Sports Illustrated in August: “He would have to melt in practice to lose [the job]."
Trey Lance was traded to the Dallas Cowboys weeks before the season and the Niners came out the gates on a roll.
The Niners won their first five games, lost the next three and then won eight straight to lock up the No. 1 seed in the NFC before losing to the Los Angeles Rams in Week 18 (when most of the Niners key players were resting for the playoffs).
[mediaosvideo align='' embedId='8ccd9d54-f701-4762-8129-babc0fd8f1e1' mediaId='8052de3e-3583-464d-b0f0-13a27a0413ed' size=''][/mediaosvideo]Despite a 13-4 season where San Francisco blew their opponents out more often than not, some still poked holes at their success.
Purdy was named a finalist for the NFL's Most Valuable Player award. Still, some argued he was being carried by his supporting cast, particularly Christian McCaffrey, who is also a finalist for MVP.
The 49ers defense is loaded with talent, but they weren't as statistically dominant as they have been in years past.
In the NFC Championship Game against the Detroit Lions, the Niners trailed 24-7 at halftime and it looked like the team was going to fall a game short of reaching the Super Bowl for the third consecutive season.
But in the second half, the script flipped.
The Niner defense got stops, Purdy made plays and his supporting cast did too. Now all the doubters are going to have to wait a week.
[mediaosvideo align='' embedId='c652925b-9383-46a4-9651-11c80f411065' mediaId='2d74811b-baec-4cf2-98d8-252f02b05528' size=''][/mediaosvideo]As for Kansas City, the reigning Super Bowl champs have been facing doubt since the first game of the season, a loss to the Detroit Lions at home.
Much was made all year long of the Chiefs' lack of reliable wide receivers. The offense in the regular season was the least dynamic it looked since Patrick Mahomes won league MVP in his first year as the starter in 2018.
Mahomes still had a reliable security blanket in Travis Kelce and the guidance of one of the greatest NFL coaches ever: Andy Reid. But as the season progressed, narrow victories against weaker teams became memorable losses to playoff teams.
The spotlight has been on the Chiefs since they beat the 49ers in Super Bowl 54, opening the door for them to be the next great NFL team after 20 years of dominance from Tom Brady and Bill Belichick's Patriots.
But this year, they were under the microscope like never before. Between Kelce's headline-grabbing relationship with Taylor Swift and Mahomes' increasing frustration with the offense's struggles, the stage was seemingly set for the best team of the past five years to melt down.
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It looked like this may not be the Chiefs' season and they would crack under the pressure to keep their success going. It turns out, the playoffs removed all of that pressure.
While much was said of the struggling Chiefs offense this season, the emergence of a truly dominant defense flew under the radar.
That defense has held Kansas City's playoff opponents to a combined 41 points in three games. Mahomes and Kelce returned to their typical playoff form and have willed the offense to victories, along with running back Isaiah Pacheco, who has had a rushing touchdown in all three games.
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The Niners' quest for the sixth Super Bowl in franchise history has led them to the same destination it did four seasons ago: A matchup with a Chiefs team that keeps finding new ways to break their opponent's hearts.
But who's to say this time won't be different? We're just going to have to watch and see.
[infogram]https://infogram.com/49er-gallery-1h7v4pdn35wv84k?live[/infogram]Daily Super Bowl Coverage
[mediaosvideo align='' embedId='8ccd9d54-f701-4762-8129-babc0fd8f1e1' mediaId='9d102acc-be99-4ac6-beeb-46e8135054e1' size=''][/mediaosvideo]The San Francisco 49ers are just one win away from securing the franchise's sixth championship.
KCRA 3 is going all in on Niners coverage live from Las Vegas every day this week leading up to the Super Bowl.
Watch our specials at 7:30 p.m. from Monday through Saturday.