Super Bowl 2022, the 56^th annual National Football League (NFL) championship to take place in the USA since 1966, will go down in history as the strongest. That wouldn’t be because of the playoff between Cincinnati Bengals and the Los Angeles Rams (who won) but because of the Halftime Show. This year’s show, a tradition that started in the ‘90s as a way to link the game to pop culture - thus broadening its television audience – surpassed years when we saw Michael Jackson, Prince, U2, Aerosmith, Madonna, Beyonce, Bruce Springsteen and even Katy Perry, who holds the record for highest rated show during the live stream.

Katy Perry drew 118.5 million viewers during the live broadcast in 2015, whereas it has been reported that this year’s Halftime Show averaged 103.4 million viewers during the 15-minute livestream. It may not have broken Katy Perry’s record, but this year’s mega medley managed to make a lot of noise, and the right kind of noise: it roared!

This was the first time that hip-hop was given the Super Bowl spotlight. The show was headlined by rap royalty - Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar and Eminem with a sixth surprise (and upside down) appearance by 50 Cent. That was just one of the many firsts it served, the success of which was verified by the way it ripped through social media the minute it began streaming.

The show was rife with a political conscience that underlined the Black Lives Matter movement, evident in the choice of music and then Eminem’s gesture of taking a knee at the end of his set. Tributes were paid to American rapper Tupac Shakur, who was murdered at the age of 25. Two hairing-impaired rappers - Sean Forbes and Warren “WaWa” Snipe - reportedly performed alongside the headliners, making it the first time that sign language interpreters were included in the halftime show. Headlines were made over the fact that this was the first time hip-hop had been given this stage. The fact that rap makes difficult conversations inevitable was the primary reason it hadn’t ever been given the spotlight, but when it did, it went all out.

How is this even relevant to Pakistan? It is, because the Pakistan Super League (PSL) – now in its seventh year – should be creating a legacy in its opening ceremony, which it needs to rethink.

PSL kicked off in 2016 in Dubai, at a time when it wasn’t considered safe for international players to play in Pakistan. The first four opening ceremonies, held at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, were headlined by a medley of musicians, including Ali Zafar (2016-2018), Fawad Khan, Shehzad Roy, Momina Mustehsan, Abida Parveen and prominent others. International pop stars like Sean Paul and Shaggy were thrown in for global appeal. Last year’s opening ceremony featuring Naseebo Lal, Aima Baig and Young Stunners was recorded in Turkey and streamed, due to Covid restrictions. This year’s ceremony saw Aima Baig on stage with Atif Aslam. While both Atif and Aima are powerhouses in their own right, the ceremony was lacking in oomph and oeuvre.

Musically speaking, PSL fuels annual PSL anthems and then branches out to team songs. It’s mostly good music and music that makes headlines; it has celebrated pop icons as well as introduced somewhat new and super new names. Unfortunately, the opening ceremony has not been able to create the kind of hoopla that it should have by now.

Pakistan doesn’t have the technology, that much is understandable. But what it should have, is a strategy.

T20 cricket and especially the league format is all about ‘crickentainment’. It’s a vibrant mix of cricket and pop culture; other than the anthems, a bevy of stars are roped in to support various teams. We see Mahira Khan, Fawad Khan, Mehwish Hayat, Hania Aamir, Bilal Ashraf and others regularly supporting their teams and featuring in anthem videos. But there consciously needs to be more.

The opening ceremony needs to have a sponsor (Pepsi sponsors the Super Bowl Halftime Show) that can put some investment behind the sound and light engineering. With Coke, Pepsi, Velo (or not), Nescafe and even Kashmir invested in music, one doesn’t see the problem here. It also needs to have a theme and purpose that takes it beyond cricket and gives the tournament a conscientious core. Let it be sports, women in sports, education, healthcare…God knows there’s no lack of issues that could use the platform to be highlighted.

The National Anthem needs to be an important highlight of the show. The Super Bowl LVI anthem was sung by Mickey Guyton, who released her debut album last September and then became the first- ever black artist to receive a Grammy nomination for Best Country Album of the Year (in addition to two other nominations). A trailblazer who added value to the lineup. We have such trailblazers in Pakistan. Arooj Aftab or Eva B, anyone?

The coin toss should be made into a moment. Back at the Super Bowl LVI, Billie Jean King (equality champion and first female athlete to receive the presidential medal of freedom) did the honours. What’s stopping PSL from creating an equally strong moment in history?

Surely, we can think of smarter ways to honour the athletes and galvanize the game!