Bad Bunny's Super Bowl LX Halftime Show: Inside the Historic Production [2025]

When Bad Bunny walked onto the field at Levi's Stadium on Super Bowl Sunday, few people realized they were watching one of the most technically ambitious halftime shows in NFL history. The artist's all-white outfit—numbered like a football jersey with "OCASIO" across the back—signaled respect for the game, but the production behind him represented something far more complex: a masterclass in logistical problem-solving under extreme constraints.

This wasn't just another celebrity performance. Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, had a specific vision: recreate the essence of his native Puerto Rico on a football field in less than 26 minutes. That meant transforming the stadium into the lush, tropical landscape of Vega Baja, the artist's hometown, complete with palm trees, sugar cane, vintage trucks, and an elaborate wedding scene. The challenge? Levi's Stadium uses natural grass, and the NFL's strict turf-protection guidelines limit how many rolling carts can access the field. The maximum allowed was 25 carts equipped with specialized turf tires. Those carts were already allocated for stages, set pieces, and other essential props.

The solution required thinking beyond traditional stage design. Production teams led by Tribe Inc.'s Bruce and Shelley Rodgers—the husband-and-wife duo who've been producing the Super Bowl halftime show for nearly two decades—came up with an unconventional answer: hire nearly 400 people to dress as plants and vegetation. What appeared on screen as a lush Puerto Rican landscape was partly actual flora, partly theatrical staging, and partly human performers in elaborately crafted costumes standing motionless on the field.

This decision alone reveals the intersection of art, engineering, and practicality that defines modern Super Bowl production. It's a story that extends far beyond entertainment. It's about how teams solve impossible problems when tradition, regulations, and artistic vision collide head-on.

TL; DR

• The core challenge: Bad Bunny wanted his halftime show to recreate Puerto Rico's tropical landscape, but NFL turf-protection rules limited equipment on the field
• The creative solution: Nearly 380 performers dressed as plants and vegetation to create the visual landscape while respecting the 25-cart equipment limit
• The pyrotechnic scale: The show featured 9,852 theatrical pyrotechnics—the largest display in a Super Bowl halftime show within the past two decades
• The production scope: Multiple stages, a surprise wedding featuring a real couple getting married, appearances by Pedro Pascal, Cardi B, and Karol G, and a finale featuring Lady Gaga performing "Die with a Smile"
• The execution: All production and teardown happened in daylight without the theatrical advantages of nighttime effects, making the staging and lighting design exceptionally demanding

Staging and costumes account for the largest share of the estimated $10-20 million Super Bowl halftime show budget, followed by pyrotechnics, guest performers, and crewing costs. Estimated data based on industry insights.

The Producer's Dilemma: Balancing Artist Vision with Stadium Realities

Bruce Rodgers didn't start his career as a Super Bowl producer. His entry into this exclusive world came through an unlikely route: Prince's legendary 2007 Super Bowl XLI halftime performance in Miami. That rain-soaked show changed everything for Rodgers. It demonstrated that a football field could become a concert venue rivaling the largest stadium rock productions, but it also taught him something more valuable: the unpredictability of live events on unprecedented scales.

The Prince experience established a template that Rodgers and his Tribe Inc. team have refined over 18 years of halftime shows. Each show they produce introduces new challenges, and each challenge forces them to develop new solutions. When Rihanna performed in 2023, the team managed elaborate costume changes and intricate choreography. When Kendrick Lamar performed at Super Bowl LIX, they recreated an entire street scene with period-appropriate staging.

Bad Bunny's request presented a different species of problem entirely. Unlike most halftime performers who work within a preexisting performance template, Bad Bunny wanted to bring his Puerto Rico residency to life on a 100-yard field in front of roughly 115 million viewers. The artistic ambition was crystalline: recreate the environment where he grew up, honor his roots on the largest platform in sports entertainment, and make it feel authentic rather than simplified.

Shelley Rodgers, who serves as the show's art director and who earned Emmy Awards for her design work on Rihanna's 2023 halftime show and Dr. Dre's 2022 performance, understood the challenge immediately. "We were looking at recreating an entire landscape," she explains. The casita (small house), vintage truck, palm trees, sugar cane, and wedding setup all had to feel cohesive and authentic, not like set pieces hastily assembled for a commercial production.

The regulatory constraints were equally daunting. The NFL's turf guidelines exist for practical reasons: a Super Bowl field generates millions of dollars in value for the host stadium, and the grass itself represents months of specialized care. The field at Levi's Stadium uses natural grass rather than artificial turf, making it particularly vulnerable to damage from heavy rolling equipment. The 25-cart limit wasn't arbitrary. Beyond that threshold, equipment damage to the field becomes inevitable.

Rodgers had to work backward from the constraints rather than forward from the vision. He had 25 carts. He needed stages for performances. He needed support infrastructure for lighting, sound, and pyrotechnics. That left minimal room for decorative elements. Traditional solutions—rolling pallets of plants, temporary landscaping, authentic flora—simply wouldn't work within that constraint envelope.

That's when the team considered human elements as scenic components. The idea wasn't novel in theater. Broadway and other theatrical productions frequently use performers as part of the landscape, creating visual depth through careful costume design and positioning. But on a football field, with millions of eyes watching, the stakes of execution become infinitely higher.

The Plant Solution: Turning 380 Humans Into Living Scenery

The decision to dress nearly 380 performers as plants and vegetation elements represents a fascinating case study in creative constraint management. Rather than fighting the limitations imposed by turf protection, Rodgers' team leaned into what the constraints made possible.

The casting and costuming process was methodical. The production team needed performers who could stand relatively motionless for extended periods, endure the physical discomfort of elaborate costumes in varying temperatures, and maintain positioning throughout the performance. These weren't traditional dancers or singers. They were background performers hired specifically for their ability to embody environmental elements.

The costume design itself became a critical discipline. Each performer needed to look sufficiently like vegetation from a distance to create the illusion of a tropical landscape. But they also needed enough freedom of movement to walk onto and off the field safely. The costumes had to be distinguishable from one another—some resembling tall grass stalks, others designed to evoke palm fronds or other vegetation—to create visual variety rather than a monolithic crowd.

The stationary elements—actual palm trees and tall poles—were the architectural backbone of the landscape. These genuine set pieces, rolled onto the field on the 25 allowed carts equipped with turf tires, provided visual anchors. The human performers then filled in the negative space, creating a cohesive environment that suggested both authenticity and artistic interpretation.

From a viewer's perspective watching in real-time, the distinction between human performers and set pieces likely blurred. The theatrical effect—a tropical Puerto Rican landscape blooming on a sterile football field—achieved its objective. The production team succeeded not by breaking the rules, but by understanding them deeply and working creatively within their boundaries.

This approach reflects a broader principle in complex event production: constraints often lead to more innovative solutions than unlimited resources. Teams working with unlimited budgets can throw money at problems. Teams working within strict constraints must think conceptually, which frequently produces more memorable and distinctive results.

Bad Bunny's 2023 halftime show featured the largest pyrotechnic deployment in two decades with 9,852 devices, surpassing previous shows significantly.

The Daylight Challenge: Abandoning Traditional Theatricality

Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl LIX halftime show benefited from the darkness of the Caesars Superdome, a domed indoor venue in New Orleans. Lamar's street scene could employ dramatic lighting contrasts, blackouts for effect, and carefully orchestrated illumination to guide audience attention. The darkness itself became a design tool.

Bad Bunny had no such advantage. Levi's Stadium is an open-air venue, and Super Bowl LX fell on a winter afternoon in Santa Clara, California. The halftime show would happen in full daylight, with natural sun illuminating the entire field. This eliminated an entire dimension of theatrical possibility.

For Shelley Rodgers and the design team, this constraint forced a different creative approach. They couldn't use lighting to hide mistakes, draw focus, or create dramatic transitions. Every element had to work visually in broad daylight. The staging, costuming, movement, and choreography had to carry the entire visual weight.

This daylight reality also affected audience perception. Viewers watching on television benefit from the broadcast's camera direction, close-ups, and editorial choices. But fans in the stadium were seeing the entire field simultaneously. That meant the production had to work at multiple scales simultaneously: impressive from close-up views, coherent from stadium-level distances, and visually interesting on television.

The production team compensated by emphasizing movement, color contrast, and clean staging. The all-white outfit Bad Bunny wore provided sharp visual contrast against the field and costumes. The various colored elements of the set pieces and performer costumes created visual rhythm without relying on sophisticated lighting design.

The Pyrotechnics Arsenal: 9,852 Theatrical Effects

If the landscape design represented the production's foundational challenge, the pyrotechnics represented its spectacular culmination. Bob Ross, the effects consultant who orchestrated the finale's pyrotechnic display, noted that Sunday's show featured the largest theatrical pyrotechnic arsenal deployed in a Super Bowl halftime show within the last two decades.

The total count: 9,852 individual pyrotechnic effects. These weren't simple fireworks. They were what Ross calls "theatrical pyrotechnics"—engineered devices designed to create specific visual effects including colored smoke, timed bursts, coordinated sequences, and the elaborate Puerto Rican flags that lit up the night sky during the finale.

These numbers require context. A typical professional fireworks show might feature hundreds of effects. Nine thousand individual pyrotechnic elements represent an extraordinary scale of coordination. Each effect requires precise timing, placement, and ignition sequencing. A single miscalibration can disrupt the entire sequence.

For the finale, as Bad Bunny carried a football through the end zone followed by performers carrying flags representing countries throughout the Americas, the pyrotechnic display escalated dramatically. Massive Puerto Rican flags ignited in coordinated sequences, creating a visual crescendo that reinforced the show's thematic focus on Bad Bunny's heritage and cultural pride.

Ross describes the pyrotechnics' role as providing "an exclamation mark to a performance." The music, dancing, and Bad Bunny's movement establish the performance's content. The pyrotechnics amplify that content, adding visual grandeur and emotional resonance.

The logistical requirements for pyrotechnic integration are substantial. Safety protocols demand extensive planning, rehearsal, and coordination with stadium officials, local fire departments, and event safety teams. Pyrotechnic technicians must map every effect's location, timing, and safe distance from performers. Weather conditions must be monitored—wind patterns can affect smoke dispersal and safety perimeters.

The Surprise Guests: Pedro Pascal, Cardi B, Karol G, and Lady Gaga

Bad Bunny's halftime show benefited from strategic guest appearances that elevated the production's prestige and audience appeal. The casting decisions reflected careful curation rather than random celebrity appearances.

Pedro Pascal, the acclaimed actor known for roles in major television and film productions, appeared alongside Bad Bunny at the casita setting. His presence in the opening moments grounded the performance in narrative rather than purely musical entertainment. The casita scene functioned as a prologue, establishing place and emotional tone.

Cardi B, herself a Dominican-American artist with deep Latin music connections, appeared in the performance, reinforcing the show's celebration of Latin culture and creating a moment of peer-to-peer artistic recognition.

Karol G, the Colombian reggaeton and trap-Latin artist, provided additional Latin representation and musical collaboration. Her appearance explicitly positioned Bad Bunny's show as a celebration of pan-Latin artistry rather than a solo performance.

But the most unexpected guest, and arguably the show's most stunning moment, was Lady Gaga performing "Die with a Smile," the song Bad Bunny recorded as a collaboration. Gaga appeared in an elaborate wedding scene that served as the show's emotional center. The wedding setting wasn't coincidental. It represented a thematic peak where the show transitioned from landscape and celebration into human connection and love.

Estimated data shows Bad Bunny's performance as the most complex, due to its unique cultural and environmental recreation on a large scale.

The Real Wedding: Benito's Long-Standing Tradition

Perhaps the most touching element of the halftime show was its wedding scene, which featured an actual couple getting married during the performance. This wasn't a theatrical representation of a wedding. It was a real marriage ceremony happening on the Super Bowl stage in front of 115 million viewers.

The couple featured in the show was genuinely about to get married. Bad Bunny, according to Bruce Rodgers, has received hundreds of wedding invitations from fans over the years. The artist wanted to oversee at least one couple's nuptials directly. The Super Bowl halftime show became the vehicle for fulfilling that desire.

The decision reflects Bad Bunny's public persona and artistic values. Throughout his career, he's positioned himself as an artist who values connection with his audience and cultural authenticity. Incorporating a real wedding ceremony into the halftime performance aligned perfectly with these established themes.

For the production team, incorporating a real couple into the show added logistical complexity. The couple needed rehearsal time, coordination with the performance schedule, and psychological preparation for performing one of life's most significant moments on the world's largest stage. The production team had to ensure the couple felt supported and safe throughout the experience.

The wedding scene, featuring Lady Gaga's performance of "Die with a Smile," transformed the halftime show's emotional register. The earlier sections—the casita, the landscape, the various musical performances—celebrated culture, pride, and artistry. The wedding scene introduced intimacy, vulnerability, and human connection. It elevated the show from pure spectacle into something more emotionally resonant.

Message and Meaning: "The Only Thing More Powerful Than Hate Is Love"

As Bad Bunny carried a football through the end zone, flanked by performers carrying flags representing countries throughout the Americas, a message illuminated behind him: "The Only Thing More Powerful Than Hate Is Love."

Shelley Rodgers explains the significance: "It ties together the music and sports aspects. It's saying 'We're all the same, and we're all on this journey together.'" The message functioned as the show's thematic conclusion, transforming the spectacle into a statement about unity and shared humanity.

The choice of a message about love's power over hate felt particularly resonant given contemporary social tensions. Bad Bunny, throughout his career, has positioned himself as an artist willing to make political and social statements. His controversial performances and statements about LGBTQ+ rights, Puerto Rican independence, and social justice established him as an artist with conviction beyond pure entertainment.

The Super Bowl halftime show's closing message represented Bad Bunny extending those values to the largest possible platform. The American flag carriers, the Caribbean and Latin American nation representations, and the explicit message about love created a closing moment that transcended typical entertainment spectacle.

For the production team, translating artistic vision into executable moments required constant negotiation between creative ambition and practical feasibility. The message itself was straightforward, but illuminating it effectively at scale, at the show's climax, with 115 million viewers watching, required technical precision and creative coordination.

The Technical Coordination: Managing Complexity in Real-Time

The halftime show's apparent seamlessness masked extraordinary technical coordination happening simultaneously across multiple systems. The production involved real-time audio mixing, lighting coordination (despite daylight challenges), costume management, performer positioning, pyrotechnic sequencing, video display timing, and emergency contingency protocols.

Audio mixing for a halftime show requires accommodating multiple sound sources: the live vocal performance, backing tracks, live instrumentation, pyrotechnic audio effects, and crowd ambiance. The mixing engineer must balance these elements in real-time while accounting for stadium acoustics, which vary significantly depending on crowd density and weather conditions.

Lighting, despite the daylight constraint, played a subtle but important role. Spotlights on Bad Bunny maintained focus even in bright conditions. The wedding scene required specific lighting to separate it visually from the surrounding landscape. The set pieces used subtle illumination to enhance their visual impact.

Costume management involved tracking nearly 400 performers, ensuring they were positioned correctly, moving on cue, and remaining in character throughout the performance. A single performer out of position or costume malfunction could disrupt the carefully orchestrated landscape effect.

Pyrotechnic sequencing represented the show's highest-risk element. A single timing error could create safety hazards or visual confusion. The pyrotechnic technicians worked from microsecond-level timing specifications, with backup systems and contingency protocols for equipment failures.

Video display systems, typically used for close-up replay in sports broadcasts, were repurposed to display the closing message and enhance thematic elements. The timing of these displays had to align perfectly with the live action on the field.

Emergency protocols ran parallel to the main show execution. If a performer became injured, if pyrotechnic equipment malfunctioned, if audio systems failed, contingency teams stood ready to respond. These protocols existed throughout the 26-minute performance, creating a safety net that viewers never saw but that made the seamless execution possible.

The 2025 Super Bowl halftime show featured a complex logistical setup with 25 rolling carts, 400 human props, and various stage and set pieces. Estimated data.

The Evolution of Halftime Production: From Prince to Bad Bunny

Bruce Rodgers' career arc in halftime production reflects the genre's overall evolution. When he worked on Prince's 2007 performance, stadium concerts still operated within relatively traditional parameters. A stage, a sound system, a performer, and a band created spectacle through musicianship and presence.

Over the subsequent 18 years, halftime show production evolved dramatically. The rise of elaborate touring productions—think Las Vegas-style mega-productions with multiple stages, costume changes, and integrated multimedia elements—established audience expectations for sophistication and spectacle.

Rodgers observed this evolution: "We're in a frenzy of a world now show-business-wise, where everybody knows that artists can pull off great things. It makes our world a little tougher because we still have seven-and-a-half minutes to get it in, a 12 or 13 minute show, and then six minutes to get it off."

The time constraint represents the core challenge. A typical touring concert builds over 90 minutes with multiple instrumental intros, extended solos, costume changes, stage setup time, and energy modulation. A halftime show must deliver equivalent spectacle and musical performance in one-third the time. Setup and teardown must happen in a 13-minute window for setup and another 6-minute window for teardown, with the actual performance constrained to approximately 12-13 minutes.

That temporal compression forces unprecedented efficiency. Every second of the performance must serve the overall narrative. Every movement must advance the story. Every technical element must integrate seamlessly with live action. There's no room for setup sequences, no time for the audience to settle into a groove, no space for artistic tangents.

For artists like Bad Bunny, who typically command 90-minute concert slots where they can explore nuance and extended arrangements, the halftime show requires radical distillation. The artist must identify their absolute essential songs, their core artistic identity, and compress that into a compact narrative statement.

The Costume Department's Hidden Complexity

While the landscape of 380 plant-costumed performers captured attention, the costume department's work extended far beyond those environmental elements. Bad Bunny's stage costume—the all-white football jersey with "OCASIO"—required its own specialized design and construction.

The costume had to balance multiple functional requirements. It needed to be immediately recognizable as a football jersey, signaling respect for the game context. It had to display the artist's real surname prominently, centering his Puerto Rican identity. It had to be comfortable for the extended choreography and movement the performance demanded. It had to look striking on camera from both close and distant perspectives.

The costuming choices for other performers—Pedro Pascal, Cardi B, Karol G, and Lady Gaga—required individual design considerations. Each costume had to align with the overall aesthetic while allowing each performer's individual artistry to shine through.

The wedding costume deserves particular attention. Lady Gaga's appearance in the wedding scene required a costume that conveyed bridal elegance while maintaining visual harmony with the surrounding staging. The costume had to be constructed for both the performance's dynamic movement and the static ceremonial moments.

Beyond the principal performers, the 380 background performers required costumes that looked cohesive from distance while maintaining individuality and visual interest. The costume department created variations within the plant/vegetation theme, designing some costumes to evoke tall grasses, others to suggest palm fronds or other tropical flora.

The costume construction process for 380+ individuals is itself an enormous undertaking. Fabric procurement, pattern drafting, garment construction, fittings, and alterations require substantial time, skilled labor, and quality control processes. The costumes had to be durable enough to withstand multiple rehearsals and the actual performance, while remaining comfortable enough that performers could maintain position for extended periods.

The Rehearsal Process: Drilling Perfection

No halftime show reaches the field without extensive rehearsal. The actual performance represents the culmination of weeks of preparation, with each element drilled repeatedly until execution becomes automatic.

For Bad Bunny's show, rehearsals began months in advance. The production team worked with choreographers to design movement patterns that would be visually coherent from all stadium vantage points and the broadcast perspective. Bad Bunny himself worked through the performance repeatedly, adjusting his movement to integrate with the staging and ensure clean sightlines for camera operators.

The 380 background performers required their own rehearsal track. They needed to learn their positions, understand movement cues, and practice the transitions that would move them on and off the field. Given the scale and the real-time nature of the event, individual performers had to achieve muscle-memory precision so that their movement appeared automatic even under the stress of performing at the Super Bowl.

Technical rehearsals involved running the show multiple times with all systems integrated: audio, lighting, video display, pyrotechnics, and performer movement synchronized. These rehearsals identified timing issues, revealed sight-line problems, and tested contingency protocols. If the audio system failed during a specific moment, backup systems would activate. If a pyrotechnic device misfired, replacement devices were positioned and ready.

The guest performers—Pedro Pascal, Cardi B, Karol G, and Lady Gaga—required integration rehearsals to ensure their movement coordinated with Bad Bunny's choreography and the surrounding staging. Their appearances had to feel organic to the overall performance rather than disconnected celebrity moments.

The performance utilized 380 human performers and 25 stationary elements to create a dynamic and visually engaging landscape. Estimated data.

Safety Protocols and Medical Readiness

The Super Bowl halftime show operates under extraordinary safety scrutiny. The combination of live pyrotechnics, large crowds, extreme technical complexity, and the impossibility of stopping and restarting demands comprehensive safety protocols.

Medical teams positioned throughout the field and stadium remained alert for any emergency. The presence of 380 background performers increased the potential for injuries. Despite extensive rehearsal and physical conditioning, muscles cramp, people feel faint, and accidents occur. Medical personnel trained in rapid response stood ready to intervene if necessary.

Pyrotechnic safety represented the most specialized concern. The pyrotechnic team established safety perimeters around all effects, ensuring that performers and camera operators maintained safe distances. Weather monitoring continued throughout the event—wind patterns affect smoke dispersal and could compromise safety zones.

Stadium infrastructure safety protocols required confirming that the field could support the combined weight of performers, equipment, and the physical stress of movement. The turf at Levi's Stadium, despite its durability, has limits. The production team coordinated with stadium personnel to ensure that staging and performer positioning distributed weight appropriately.

Security protocols involved identifying potential threats and establishing access controls. The massive scale and high-profile nature of the Super Bowl makes it a potential target for security incidents. Security teams maintained surveillance throughout the event, with response teams positioned to handle potential emergencies.

The Environmental Storytelling: Why Puerto Rico Mattered

Bad Bunny's decision to center his halftime show on Puerto Rico wasn't arbitrary. It reflected deep personal significance. Vega Baja, the municipality where he grew up, shaped his artistic identity fundamentally. The region's culture, landscape, music traditions, and community values appear throughout his work.

By recreating Puerto Rico's landscape on a Super Bowl field, Bad Bunny made a statement about cultural representation and pride. The halftime show's massive platform—reaching 115 million viewers—allowed him to center Puerto Rican culture on unprecedented stages.

The show's visual elements communicated specific meanings. The casita represented humble origins and home. The vintage truck evoked traditional Puerto Rican vehicles and working-class authenticity. The natural landscape elements—palm trees, vegetation—reinforced the tropical geography that shapes Puerto Rican identity. The wedding scene celebrated family and human connection, core values in Puerto Rican culture.

The closing message about love's power over hate connected to Puerto Rico's contemporary social and political context. The island faces ongoing challenges—economic inequality, infrastructure needs, political debates about statehood versus independence, and the lingering effects of major hurricanes. By framing his performance around love and unity, Bad Bunny extended his artistic voice into social commentary.

The flag procession featuring nations throughout the Americas extended the show's reach beyond Puerto Rico. While centering his homeland, Bad Bunny acknowledged the broader Latin American and Caribbean identity that connects him to audiences across the hemisphere.

The Broadcast Perspective: How Television Transforms the Live Experience

Most viewers experienced Bad Bunny's halftime show through television rather than in person. The broadcast experience represents a fundamentally different perspective from the stadium vantage point.

Television directors make critical framing choices that guide viewers' attention. Close-ups on Bad Bunny's face convey emotion. Wide shots establish the landscape. Cuts between different perspectives help viewers navigate the scale of the production. The broadcast essentially curates the Super Bowl experience for the roughly 100 million viewers who can't attend in person.

Camera operators positioned throughout the stadium captured multiple angles. High-definition cameras provided broadcast-quality footage. Drone footage, increasingly common in halftime show broadcasts, captured aerial perspectives that stadium attendees can't access. Slow-motion replay highlighted key moments.

The broadcast's audio mixing balanced the live stadium sound with isolated audio feeds from Bad Bunny's performance. This prevents the stadium crowd noise from overwhelming the musical elements. The broadcast audio often sounds cleaner than the actual stadium audio because it's constructed through careful mixing rather than captured as ambient sound.

The lighting that appeared muted or invisible in person often revealed greater subtlety on broadcast. The camera's sensitivity to light differences made staging choices that were barely noticeable in the stadium quite apparent on television. This explains why broadcast productions sometimes employ lighting designs that seem excessive in person—they're calibrated for how cameras capture light rather than how human eyes perceive it.

The Super Bowl halftime show featured 9,852 theatrical pyrotechnic effects, with the largest share being timed bursts and colored smoke. Estimated data.

The Venue Challenge: Why Levi's Stadium Presented Unique Constraints

Levi's Stadium, located in Santa Clara, California, opened in 2014 as the home of the San Francisco 49ers. Unlike older stadiums built with covered or retractable roof designs, Levi's remains open-air, exposing performances to full daylight conditions.

The stadium's single main field tunnel created logistical constraints. Performers and equipment had to move through a bottleneck entrance/exit point. This contrasted with domed stadiums like the Caesars Superdome, which offers multiple access points and the architectural advantage of enclosed darkness.

The natural grass field, while championship-quality, demands careful protection from equipment damage. The turf was specifically maintained for the Super Bowl, with a professional groundskeeping team managing growth, nutrition, and health leading up to the event. Any equipment or activity that could damage the turf had to be carefully controlled.

The stadium's location in Northern California during winter meant consistent but unpredictable weather. Rain could occur, affecting visibility and safety. Wind patterns could influence smoke from pyrotechnics. Temperature variations could affect costume comfort and equipment performance.

Despite these constraints, Levi's Stadium offered advantages. Its relatively modern infrastructure meant reliable electrical systems, advanced audio capabilities, and sophisticated lighting infrastructure. The stadium's commercial partnerships—it's officially known by corporate sponsor name—meant access to premium resources and support services.

The Artist's Perspective: Bad Bunny's Vision and Challenges

Few artists have the opportunity to perform at a Super Bowl halftime show. The platforms are limited—roughly one per year—and the selection process remains exclusive. For Bad Bunny, earning the Super Bowl LX halftime slot represented professional validation and unprecedented reach.

But the opportunity came with artistic constraints that differ fundamentally from his typical performances. In a stadium tour, Bad Bunny controls the entire experience. He chooses the duration, the setlist, the staging, the narrative arc. He can extend songs, include extended intros, allow for improvisation and audience interaction.

The halftime show format strips away that autonomy. The duration, starting and ending times, and performance window are predetermined. The setlist must compress his greatest hits into a 12-minute window. The staging must align with NFL requirements and the production team's capacity.

For an artist accustomed to 90-minute shows, this compression requires radical artistic choices. Every moment must count. Nonessential elements must be eliminated. The performance must be self-contained and complete rather than part of a longer artistic journey.

Yet these constraints apparently drove creative solutions. By centering the show on Puerto Rico rather than simply performing a series of hits, Bad Bunny transformed the halftime show into a thematic statement. The landscape design, the guest appearances, the wedding scene, and the closing message created a coherent narrative arc. The compression forced conceptual clarity.

Bruce Rodgers' observation that Bad Bunny is a "sweetheart" to work with suggests the artist approached the experience collaboratively rather than dictatorially. He accepted production team recommendations, worked within constraints, and trusted the creative vision that emerged from the collaboration.

The Industry Impact: Establishing New Standards

Bad Bunny's Super Bowl LX halftime show will likely influence future productions. The 9,852 pyrotechnic elements establish a new baseline expectation. The human-as-scenery approach offers a template for addressing venue constraints creatively. The scale of production—nearly 400 background performers, multiple guest stars, the real wedding incorporation—demonstrates what's possible within the format.

Future artists will potentially expect equivalent ambition. Producers will need to consider how to incorporate meaningful narrative elements alongside musical performance. The halftime show as a form will likely continue evolving toward more conceptually sophisticated productions that operate at massive scales.

The environmental storytelling element—centering a specific cultural place rather than generic celebrity spectacle—offers a model for authenticity. If future artists follow this pattern, halftime shows could become showcases for cultural representation rather than just celebrity vehicles.

The guest appearance strategy also sets precedent. Rather than featuring randomized celebrity moments, carefully curated guest spots that advance the show's narrative could become standard. This would require deeper collaboration between artists and producers but could yield more coherent artistic results.

Behind the Pyrotechnics: Bob Ross's Expertise

Bob Ross, the effects consultant orchestrating the pyrotechnic display, brings decades of experience to Super Bowl productions. The title "effects consultant" undersells his actual role. He's essentially responsible for the visual safety, technical execution, and artistic impact of thousands of individual pyrotechnic devices.

Ross's background in theatrical effects gives him advantage in understanding how to create visual impact while managing safety. Traditional fireworks shows prioritize brightness and volume. Theatrical pyrotechnics prioritize visual storytelling and emotional resonance. A fireworks show is meant to be impressive. A theatrical pyrotechnic display is meant to enhance a narrative.

For Bad Bunny's show, Ross worked backward from the artistic vision. The finale needed to feel triumphant, celebratory, and emotionally resonant. The pyrotechnics couldn't overshadow Bad Bunny or Lady Gaga's moment—they needed to amplify it. Ross's expertise was determining exactly which devices, in which sequence, with which timing, would achieve that balance.

The massive Puerto Rican flags that lit up during the finale required specialized construction and timed ignition. Unlike standard fireworks, these flags had to ignite in specific patterns and sustain their visual effect for particular durations. The engineering that made these moments possible sits largely invisible to viewers but represents sophisticated technical expertise.

The Production Timeline: Months of Preparation

The Super Bowl halftime show's apparent spontaneity masks months of preparation. The timeline typically begins immediately after the previous year's Super Bowl, when the new year's performer is announced and the production team can begin conceptual development.

For Bad Bunny's show, early timelines likely involved initial meetings where Rodgers and his team learned about the Puerto Rico concept, understood the artist's vision, and began identifying constraints and solutions. These early conversations drive all subsequent decisions.

Concept development involves creating rough sketches, identifying potential staging solutions, and developing preliminary budgets. How much will this production cost? What's the scale of the crew needed? What technical challenges exist?

Once concepts are approved, detailed design begins. Set designers create architectural plans. Costume designers sketch ideas and source materials. Choreographers develop movement patterns. Technical specialists identify equipment needs, power requirements, and safety protocols.

Vendor selection comes next. Which pyrotechnic companies can execute this scale of effect? Which costume manufacturers can produce 380+ quality garments on deadline? Which lighting companies have the equipment and expertise needed?

Construction timelines then begin. Set pieces are built, costumes are manufactured, lighting rigs are assembled. This phase can span months, with work happening in parallel across multiple facilities.

Rehearsal timelines typically compress into the weeks immediately before the Super Bowl. Performers fly to the venue, full-scale rehearsals begin with all technical elements integrated, and final adjustments are made based on what's discovered in rehearsals.

The Economic Scale: Budget Implications

Super Bowl halftime shows operate at extraordinary budgetary scales. While official budgets remain undisclosed, industry estimates suggest major halftime shows cost between

Bad Bunny's show, given its scale—380 background performers, 9,852 pyrotechnic elements, multiple guest stars, elaborate staging—likely approached or exceeded the upper range of that estimate. The environmental costuming alone represented significant expense: materials, construction labor, fittings, storage, and logistics for 380+ costumes compounds rapidly.

The pyrotechnic display represented another substantial cost center. Theatrical-grade pyrotechnic devices cost significantly more than consumer fireworks. The engineering, safety protocols, and specialized labor involved in coordinating 9,852 devices adds up quickly.

Guest performer fees likely constituted another major expense. Lady Gaga, in particular, commands substantial performance fees. Even though her role was brief, the opportunity cost and travel/accommodation expenses mount.

Crewing costs—employing hundreds of technicians, production assistants, safety personnel, and other support staff—across months of preparation and the event itself, create substantial labor expenses.

Yet these costs are absorbed by the NFL and the broadcaster, not the artist. This differs from touring, where the artist absorbs production costs against ticket revenue. The Super Bowl's economics allow for investment levels that would be prohibitive in traditional concert contexts.

Lessons in Complex Event Production

Bad Bunny's Super Bowl LX halftime show offers case-study material for complex event production professionals. Several principles emerge from the production's approach:

First, constraints drive innovation. Rather than fighting the turf-protection guidelines that limited available equipment, the production team reframed the problem and discovered a creative solution that worked within limitations.

Second, narrative coherence matters. Rather than simply performing a medley of hits, the show created a thematic throughline centering Puerto Rico and culminating in messages about love and unity. This narrative structure gave the spectacle meaning beyond pure entertainment.

Third, collaboration and expertise matter profoundly. The production depended on Bruce and Shelley Rodgers' accumulated knowledge from nearly two decades of halftime shows, Bob Ross's pyrotechnic expertise, costume designers, technical specialists, and choreographers working together toward a unified vision.

Fourth, time compression requires ruthless prioritization. With 26 minutes total and 12 minutes of actual performance, every moment had to serve the overall vision. Nothing extraneous could be included. This compression forced conceptual clarity.

Fifth, safety and contingency must be built into every aspect. Despite the show's apparent spontaneity, layers of safety protocols and contingency systems ran invisibly throughout. Emergency teams stood ready. Backup equipment was positioned. Medical personnel waited.

Finally, the broadcast perspective must be considered alongside the live perspective. The show had to work for people watching in the stadium and for the 100+ million viewers experiencing it through television. These represent different visual contexts requiring different design solutions.

FAQ

What were the main production challenges for Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show?

The primary challenge was translating Bad Bunny's vision of recreating his Puerto Rican homeland into a 26-minute halftime show at a stadium with strict turf-protection guidelines limiting equipment access. The solution involved dressing nearly 380 performers as vegetation to create the landscape while respecting the 25-cart limit for rolling equipment, demonstrating how constraints can drive creative innovation.

How many pyrotechnic effects were used in the performance?

Bad Bunny's show featured 9,852 individual theatrical pyrotechnic devices, marking the largest deployment in a Super Bowl halftime show within the past two decades according to effects consultant Bob Ross. These weren't simple fireworks but engineered theatrical effects including colored smoke, timed bursts, and the elaborate illuminated Puerto Rican flags featured in the finale.

Why did the show feature a real couple getting married?

Bad Bunny has received hundreds of wedding invitations from fans throughout his career and wanted to oversee at least one couple's marriage directly. The Super Bowl halftime show provided the platform for this desire, transforming the wedding scene from a theatrical moment into an authentic life event celebrated on the world's largest stage.

How did the daytime venue affect production decisions?

Levi's Stadium is an open-air venue, meaning the halftime show occurred in full daylight without the theatrical advantages of darkness. This eliminated using lighting to hide mistakes or create dramatic transitions, requiring the production team to rely on movement, color contrast, and clean staging design that worked effectively without sophisticated nighttime lighting effects.

Who were the surprise guest performers?

The show featured multiple guest appearances including Pedro Pascal at the opening casita scene, Cardi B during the performance, Karol G representing pan-Latin artistry, and Lady Gaga performing "Die with a Smile" during an elaborate wedding scene. Each guest appearance was strategically positioned to advance the show's thematic narrative rather than serving as disconnected celebrity moments.

How long did production take and what was the scale of the crew?

While specific timelines vary, Super Bowl halftime show production typically begins immediately after the previous year's Super Bowl and involves months of conceptual development, design, construction, and rehearsal. Bad Bunny's show involved nearly 400 background performers alone, plus an equivalent number of crew members including technical specialists, costume departments, choreographers, safety personnel, and production assistants.

What was the significance of the closing message?

The finale featured the message "The Only Thing More Powerful Than Hate Is Love" as Bad Bunny carried a football through the end zone flanked by performers carrying flags representing countries throughout the Americas. This message tied together the show's sports and music aspects while expressing themes of unity and shared humanity, extending Bad Bunny's established commitment to social and political statements through his artistry.

How did the production team solve the vegetation landscape problem?

Since actual plants and vegetation carts would have damaged the natural grass field, and the 25-equipment-cart limit was already allocated to stages and essential props, the production team hired 380 performers and dressed them in elaborate plant and vegetation costumes. These human performers functioned as living scenery, creating the illusion of a tropical landscape while respecting stadium turf-protection guidelines.

What makes Super Bowl halftime shows increasingly difficult to produce?

As Tribe Inc.'s Bruce Rodgers notes, contemporary artists expect spectacle equivalent to major touring productions, yet the format allows only 26 minutes total, with roughly 13 minutes for setup, 12-13 minutes of actual performance, and 6 minutes for teardown. This extreme time compression requires unprecedentedly efficient execution where every moment must advance the artistic vision.

Why was Levi's Stadium considered challenging for this production?

Levi's Stadium has a single main field tunnel (creating an equipment bottleneck), uses natural grass requiring careful protection from damage, and offers no roof coverage, eliminating the theatrical advantages of darkness. The open-air venue meant the production had to work in daylight, requiring entirely different design approaches than domed stadiums that can control lighting and darkness for dramatic effect.

Conclusion: The Future of Super Bowl Spectacle

Bad Bunny's Super Bowl LX halftime show represents a watershed moment in the evolution of this uniquely American form of entertainment. The production synthesized unprecedented technical scale (9,852 pyrotechnic effects), creative constraint management (380 costumed performers serving as environmental scenery), ambitious guest collaborations, and meaningful cultural representation into a 12-minute performance that reached over 115 million viewers.

Bruce and Shelley Rodgers' two decades of halftime show production experience converged in this performance. The lessons learned from Prince's rain-soaked 2007 show, Rihanna's 2023 production, and Kendrick Lamar's 2025 street scene all informed the approaches applied to Bad Bunny's vision. Yet each Super Bowl challenges producers to solve problems never encountered before, to push technical boundaries, and to find creative solutions within strict constraints.

The human-as-scenery approach to the Puerto Rican landscape represents a paradigm shift in how productions address venue limitations. Rather than treating constraints as obstacles to overcome, the team reframed them as creative opportunities. The result—nearly 400 performers embodying the natural landscape while respecting turf-protection guidelines—solved a practical problem while creating a visually distinctive and memorable theatrical moment.

The real wedding incorporated into the show reminds us that beyond the spectacle and technical achievement, entertainment's most powerful moments often involve authentic human experience. Lady Gaga's performance of "Die with a Smile" during that ceremony elevated the show from pure spectacle into something emotionally resonant. The couple getting married on the Super Bowl stage created a moment that transcends typical celebrity performance.

The closing message about love's power over hate positioned the show as cultural statement rather than just entertainment. Bad Bunny used the largest platform in sports entertainment to center his Puerto Rican heritage, celebrate pan-Latin identity, and express values about unity and shared humanity. This represents the evolution of the halftime show beyond pure spectacle into space for meaningful artistic expression.

For Tribe Inc., for Bad Bunny, for the 400+ performers and crew members involved, for the NFL and broadcast team, and for the 115 million viewers who witnessed it, this halftime show will likely define the genre for years to come. Future Super Bowl producers will study Bad Bunny's show the way they studied Prince's legendary 2007 performance. Future artists will aspire to equivalent ambition.

The Super Bowl halftime show occupies a unique cultural position. It's not quite concert, not quite theater, not quite sports, not quite commercial advertisement. It's a synthesis of all these elements, executed at unprecedented scales under extreme time constraints with the world watching. When executed at the level of Bad Bunny's performance, it transcends its format and becomes something larger: a statement about culture, artistry, identity, and the power of entertainment to bring people together.

As Shelley Rodgers observed of the show's closing moments: "It's saying 'We're all the same, and we're all on this journey together.'" In a world increasingly divided, that message, delivered on the Super Bowl's largest stage through music, dance, and shared spectacle, resonates with more power than perhaps anything else contemporary entertainment can accomplish. That's ultimately what made Bad Bunny's Super Bowl LX halftime show historic: not just the technical scale or creative problem-solving, but the meaning embedded within the spectacle.

Key Takeaways

• Nearly 380 costumed performers functioned as living scenery to recreate Puerto Rico's landscape while respecting NFL turf-protection guidelines limiting equipment access to 25 carts
• The 9,852 theatrical pyrotechnic effects deployed represent the largest halftime show pyrotechnic display in the past two decades, creating an unprecedented visual finale
• Production teams solved the daylight venue challenge by emphasizing movement, color contrast, and clean staging without relying on theatrical nighttime lighting effects
• The show's narrative coherence—centering Bad Bunny's homeland, incorporating guest performers, featuring a real wedding ceremony—transformed spectacle into meaningful cultural statement
• Two decades of accumulated expertise from Tribe Inc.'s Bruce and Shelley Rodgers, combined with specialized pyrotechnic knowledge and costume design innovation, enabled execution of unprecedented complexity under extreme time constraints

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