Super Bowl Will Also Be a Style Showdown on All Fronts
Super Bowl LV may be shaping up to be a battle between the new kid and the old G.O.A.T., but there’s also style at stake.
Even those non-football fans (are there any?) might find something to follow in this year’s game between Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium. After all, Brady is known for his penchant for designer fashions — especially Tom Ford — and marriage to famed model Giselle Bündchen. Mahomes is less the fashion plate – although he’s only 25, compared to Brady’s 43, so has barely had time to transition out of his college age wardrobe. But with The Weeknd and Biden inauguration poet Amanda Gorman performing, there are other fashionable participants expected.
More from WWD
Unlike the previous 54 Super Bowls, this one’s crowd will be two-thirds smaller than the norm, due to the pandemic and the need for social distancing.
Win or lose, there will be elan on and off the field, and here’s a primer on what to expect.
Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes II
Heading into his 10th Super Bowl, Tom Brady has a love-him or loathe-him way with fans. At 43, Brady is trying to become the oldest quarterback to win a Super Bowl. His high school graduation coincided with the year Mahomes was born. A seasoned businessman, Brady’s portfolio includes deals with Under Amour, Ugg and Tag Heuer as well as TB12, his holistic fitness and nutrition program. With 14.2 million social media followers, Brady has substantial reach. But Mahomes is vying for his second consecutive Super Bowl win, and has been gaining traction since joining the NFL in 2017. With 6.7 million followers, the Chiefs’ quarterback sparked a social media discussion about jorts last summer, as in jean shorts. He has deals with Oakley, Adidas, DirectTV, State Farm and Head & Shoulders. Game days are often suit days for Mahomes, who said of his GQ cover last summer, “I am proud of who I am.”
Giselle Bündchen
While the term “supermodel” is overused and misapplied, Bündchen is certainly close to warranting the term with a worth estimated at $400 million, twice Brady’s stash. The enterprising Brazilian bombshell and the quarterback have been married since 2009 and have two children. The former Victoria’s Secret model and Brady started dating in late 2006 and since then, she has helped him raise his fashion stakes. Their red-carpet looks from events such as the Met Gala have become renowned. But interestingly, in a recent TikTok couple’s challenge video, Bündchen said her husband actually has a bigger closet than she does.
Bridget Moynahan
The “Blue Bloods” actress and one-time model is the former girlfriend of Tom Brady and the mother of his elder son, John Edward Thomas (Jack) Moynahan, who was born in 2007 right after they split and Brady moved on to Bündchen. But while the ending may have been rocky, the trio today has an amicable relationship. Jack was in the stands when Brady clinched the Super Bowl slot and Moynahan has also been vocal in her support of her ex. “Could not be more proud, @tombrady said he would do it and he did. Congratulations @buccaneers,” she posted on Instagram after the team’s win over the Green Bay Packers. Moynahan, who is now married to businessman Andrew Frankel, is also an author, having penned “Our Shoes, Our Selves: 40 Women, 40 Stores, 40 Pairs of Shoes” in 2019.
Brittany Matthews
The fiancée of Patrick Mahomes who has been dating him since they were students at Whitehouse High School in Texas. They even attended the prom together. But Mahomes is not the only athlete in the family — Matthews was a soccer star in her own right and played during her time at the University of Texas, where she graduated with a degree in kinesiology. Today she’s a certified personal trainer with her own fitness company, Brittany Lynne Fitness, and 839,000 followers on Instagram. But the two will soon be three. After Mahomes got down on one knee and proposed at the Super Bowl ring ceremony last year at Arrowhead Stadium, the couple revealed they are expecting their first child, a girl.
Andy Reid and Bruce Arians
Reid, the 62-year-old head coach of the Chiefs, has been climbing the ladder in professional football for decades. The Los Angeles native — who worked as a vendor for the Dodgers as a teen — played college football at Brigham Young University and started his coaching career after graduation. Over the years he’s coached for the Green Bay Packers and the Philadelphia Eagles before joining Kansas City in 2013, where he led the team to a Super Bowl title last year. Off-the-field Reid is known for his love of short-sleeve Hawaiian shirts. New Jersey native Bruce Arians, 68, is known for his “no risk it, no biscuit” propensity for aggressive play. The Buccaneers’ head coach, who held the same post with the Arizona Cardinals from 2013 to 2017, actually came out of retirement to take the job with the Bucs in 2019. A former college football player at Virginia Tech, he worked as a game analyst for CBS Sports during his retirement and fancies himself a style maven with his fashionable button-down shirts and signature Kangol caps.
Jim Nantz and Tony Romo
Thirty-six years into his career at CBS, Jim Nantz is a three-time Emmy winner and a five-time National Sportscaster of the Year winner. His off-field pursuits include an artisanal Sonoma wine appropriately named “The Calling,” and a Pebble Beach-inspired collection with Vineyard Vines. Like Tony Romo, Nantz is a shirt, tie and blazer guy on-air. Former NFL quarterback Romo knows all about game-clinching touchdowns after 14 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys (the league’s most valued team at $5.8 billion). Nicknamed “Romostradamus,” the former NFLer often calls them before he sees them. Some might associate him with Jessica Simpson, whom he dated years ago, but the clean-cut Romo is a father of three with his wife Candice Crawford, whose brother is the actor Chace. Romo and his wife will appear in a Skechers commercial during the Super Bowl. Pandemic cautions being what they are, Nantz and Romo won’t see each other in person until Sunday.
Roger Goodell
Serving as NFL commissioner is a pretty buttoned-up role, but Roger Goodell flashed some of his fashion sense last summer. During what turned out to be the most-watched NFL draft, Goodell did a quick change midway through — losing the blue blazer to sport a V-neck sweater over his button-down shirt while broadcasting from his Bronxville, N.Y., basement. Conservative in his clothing choices, the commissioner showed a different kind of economizing last year, forgoing his entire salary (which could have tallied as much as $40 million with incentives) due to the pandemic.
Hulk Hogan and Brad Pitt
Wrestling star Hogan has been among the Bucs’ biggest, and best-known, fans for years and even famously visited the team’s training camp in 2018, taking selfies with the players. After the win over Green Bay two weeks ago, Hogan tweeted a “special shout-out to G.O.A.T.,” Tom Brady, for “bringing it home.” Pitt, who grew up in Missouri, nearly broke the internet when he donned a Chiefs cap that was tossed to him by a fan as he was heading into last year’s SAG Awards. The actor, who went to high school in Springfield, Mo., and college at the University of Missouri, also made a prediction on the red carpet last year after the team’s win in 2020: “I think we are looking at a dynasty. That’s what I think.”
Mascots
Introduced in 1989 and named after “the Wolfpack,” the Chiefs’ rowdier fans, K.C. Wolf was the first mascot to be inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame. Partial to red game jerseys and red and white floral printed pants that are faintly reminiscent of Tommy Hilfiger girls’ capri style, the Kansas City mascot is known to drive an ATV around Arrowhead Stadium. Uber fans can buy K.C. Wolf costumes online for $369. Captain Fear, the Caribbean pirate, arrived on the scene in Tampa Bay in 2000. The blue-eyed, black-haired, full-bearded swashbuckler sports “pewter-colored” pants with a sleeveless white shirt and red vest. The captain’s two-tone pirate boots aren’t of Chanel’s spring-summer caliber, but they make a statement just the same. And Captain Fear is known to break out the shirt and tie on occasion, such as with a photo-op with the Bucs’ cheerleaders.
Cheerleaders for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs
Being a cheerleader for an NFL franchise requires more than just wicked dance moves and shaking pom-poms. Both squads, who wear the red-and-white colors of their respective teams, also visit charity events, trade shows and county fairs, spreading good cheer and team spirit. What they don’t represent, however, is diversity in either gender or race. The Chiefs’ cheerleaders are all white women, except for one guy, Dominic, while the Bucs are a tad more diverse, with three men and three women of color listed on the team’s roster. Although both wear traditional cheer outfits for some games — skirts and boots — there are also more-modern options as well. In the case of the Bucs, the cheerleaders wear sports bras and leggings with pirate graphics for some appearances while the Chiefs squad also wears sweats, pullovers and sneakers.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs fans
Regardless of who wins or loses Sunday, Raymond James Stadium will be a sea of red, thanks to thousands of screaming Bucs and Chiefs fans. Although the shade of red that each team sports is the same, the hometown Bucs have opted to wear their white jerseys and pewter-colored pants. The Bucs’ Nike uniforms were updated but retained the modern flag and crossed swords logo. Just as CBS Sports is trying to rake in more than 99.9 million TV viewers to beat last year’s Super Bowl total on Fox, the Bucs and the Chiefs are all about building their bases: Jr. Bucs Fan Club and the Women of Red Fan Club — you name it, they’ve got it. As of Monday afternoon, a ticket package was $5,738 per person. The Chiefs are offering fan wallpaper to freshen up your next conference call. Online shoppers can also buy the $120 “most popular” Nike Patrick Mahomes Super Bowl-bound game jersey, a $37 AFC 2020 Champions T-shirt from Nike and similarly commemorative $35 baseball caps from New Era. At-home fans will feel at times they are seated in the eighth row, thanks to one of the 120 cameras that CBS will use that will be rigged to a zip line suspended between the two end zones.
Super Bowl by the Numbers
0 — Number of commercials Budweiser and Coca-Cola will air for their signature beverages..
1 — First time a team has played in its home stadium.
10 — Number of Super Bowls Tom Brady will have appeared in, the first nine with the New England Patriots.
25 — Patrick Mahomes’ age.
43 — Tom Brady’s age, making him the oldest quarterback to start a Super Bowl.
7,500 — Number of health care workers invited.
22,000 — Number of fans allowed in for the game.
$5.5 million — Cost of a 30-second commercial.
$10 million — Estimated net worth of Patrick Mahomes.
$200 million — Estimated net worth of Tom Brady.
$435 million — In-game advertising revenue for last year’s Super Bowl.
LV — The 55th Super Bowl.
1.4 billion — the number of chicken wings expected to be consumed during the game, according to the National Chicken Council.
Launch Gallery: What to Expect for the 2021 Superbowl
Best of WWD
Sign up for WWD's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
