Never mind, the NFL will find someone like Adele. (And that’s the extent of the puns for this one.)
Amid rumors that Adele will headline the Super Bowl LI halftime show, Adele confirms that, yes, she was asked to do it but that, no, she won’t be.
“First of all, I’m not doing the Super Bowl,” Adele told an audience during a show, via Variety.com. “I mean, come on, that show is not about music. And I don’t really -- I can’t dance or anything like that. They were very kind, they did ask me, but I said no.”
Super Bowl halftime had become one of the most desirable gigs for performers, given the immense exposure provided. And the NFL eventually figured that out.
Previously done for free, a report from 2014 suggested that the NFL asked Katy Perry (who performed at halftime of Super Bowl XLIX), Rihanna, and Coldplay (which performed at halftime of Super Bowl 50) to “contribute a portion of their post-Super Bowl tour income” to the NFL or to “make some other type of financial contribution.” The reaction from the acts reportedly was “chilly,” but the NFL nevertheless has a significant amount of bargaining power, which the league consistently uses as much as it can to get what it wants.
Adele didn’t mention the possibility that she said “no” because the NFL wanted her to say “yes” to coughing up some cash. But if that’s what the NFL is doing, look for the best options to decline and only those acts that are desperate to seize upon the boost that comes from the Super Bowl stage to gladly give up X percent of whatever they realize post-Super Bowl, since that’s always better than keeping 100 percent of nothing.