This Sunday, the Super Bowl will return to Silicon Valley: Levi’s Stadium is staging the scene for a showdown between the New England Patriots and the Seahawks, which promises to attract significant interest from the technology sector. Expect appearances by YouTube CEO Neal Mohan and Tim Cook of Apple, whose company has become a regular guest at the event after Apple Music took on sponsorship of the halftime show a few years ago.
Long-time venture investor Venki Ganesan of Menlo Ventures shared his expectations with the NYT: during the Super Bowl in the Bay Area – “tech billionaires who were picked last in gym class pay $50,000 to pretend they are friends with the guys who were picked first.” He added: “And, actually, I was picked last in that class as well.”
“Tech billionaires picked last in gym class pay $50,000 to pretend they’re friends with the guys who were picked first.”
Financial and Media Interest
According to Ganesan, Silicon Valley sees the event as an important platform for big deals. Menlo Ventures previously invested in Anthropic, creating a $100 million fund in 2024 to support other AI startups. The firm also participated in Anthropic’s funding rounds through its main fund and special mechanisms. It is reported that Anthropic expects to close a round of roughly $20 billion next week with a post-money valuation of about $350 billion.
Tickets have reached a high price threshold: the average price is around $7,000 (per Times), and the latest tickets still appear on the online market for about $3,600. About 25% of tickets are earmarked for the general public; the remainder is split between NFL teams. The largest group of buyers – 27% – arrives from Washington to support the Seahawks, who have only one victory in their history, while the Patriots have won six titles with Tom Brady at the helm.
Also in focus are AI initiative advertising campaigns: Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, Amazon, and Meta are actively promoting their solutions, so they expect meetings with leaders of these companies among the guests. It is reported that among other notable figures is Andy Jassy of Amazon, who allegedly divides his time between Seattle and Santa Monica; other top executives, as noted, live within an hour’s drive of the venue.
According to the event history, this game marks the third milestone in Super Bowl history where the Bay Area hosted the tournament: the first time – 1985 at Stanford Stadium between the 49ers and the Dolphins; the second – ten years ago at Levi’s Stadium between the Broncos and the Panthers.
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Connie Loizos has long covered Silicon Valley: she was previously the editor of Silicon Valley TechCrunch, and since September 2023 has led TechCrunch as editor-in-chief and CEO. She also founded StrictlyVC – a daily newsletter and lecture series, acquired by Yahoo in August 2023 and now operating under the TechCrunch brand. Contact details are best sought through TechCrunch or StrictlyVC’s official channels, directly via their official sources.
Learn more about her professional path in her biography on TechCrunch’s site.
