Jay-Z will headline the Super Bowl LXI halftime show at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on Feb. 14, 2027, the NFL, Apple Music and Roc Nation announced Monday night. Roc Nation, the company he founded, will executive produce the show, as it has every halftime show since 2019.

That overlap is why the news drew a split reaction within minutes. Roc Nation’s job under its NFL deal is to help choose the halftime act. This time, the act is its founder.

What the NFL announced

The game airs on ESPN, ABC and Disney+, with streaming on NFL+, according to NFL.com. Apple Music sponsors the show, which carries its name. Hamish Hamilton is directing, and the league has not named any guests or a setlist.

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The timing followed Jay-Z’s own calendar. He played two JAY-Z30 concerts at SoFi on Oct. 23 and 24, marking anniversaries of “Reasonable Doubt” and “The Blueprint.” He has 25 Grammy wins and 89 nominations, ESPN noted. His wife, Beyoncé, headlined Super Bowl XLVII in 2013.

In a statement, Jay-Z called the booking “a dream come true.” He added: “From Reasonable Doubt to standing on the Super Bowl Halftime stage, this has been a journey.”

What Roc Nation’s NFL deal actually covers

The partnership dates to August 2019. Under it, the league uses Roc Nation to advise on and co-produce its entertainment, including the halftime show, the Associated Press reported at the time. Roc Nation also supports Inspire Change, the social justice program the NFL created after players’ anthem protests.

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ESPN reported the original contract was worth about $25 million over five years, according to XXL. Bloomberg reported in October 2024 that the two sides had extended it. Neither side has disclosed the new length or value. Commissioner Roger Goodell called it “a mutually positive relationship” at the time.

The deal gives Roc Nation an advisory and production role, and the NFL has never published how it signs off on a headliner.

Puck’s Dave Brooks first reported on Oct. 20 that Jay-Z had chosen himself. Puck also reported that Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber were in the running, according to Yahoo Sports.

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Jay-Z said in 2019 the deal wasn’t about him performing

The question of Jay-Z booking himself is as old as the deal. At the 2019 launch in New York, he described his first conversation with Goodell. “If this is about me performing at the Super Bowl, then we can just end this conversation now,” he said, per the AP.

That 2019 launch drew criticism on other grounds. It came as Colin Kaepernick remained unsigned after kneeling during the anthem in 2016. Jay-Z said at the same news conference that “we’ve moved past kneeling.”

By January 2024, his answer had softened. Asked by Entertainment Tonight whether he would take the stage himself, he said, “I thought it would be selfish to pick myself too early.” Then: “Maybe one year.”

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Goodell’s statement Monday framed the booking as his own idea. “When we first reached an agreement with Roc Nation to produce the show, I had just one request,” he said, as quoted by NBC Sports. That request was “that Jay-Z take the stage himself one day, whenever the moment felt right to him.”

The criticism, and how the league has answered it

The objection is mostly about process. One fan asked “How do you pick yourself for the halftime show?” in posts collected by Pro Football Network. Others said younger viewers don’t know his catalog. One supporter argued that his ties to other stars could “hit pretty much every demographic.”

Commentators made the point before the announcement. Sports Illustrated’s Kristen Wong wrote on Oct. 20 that “he gets to handpick the Super Bowl halftime performer himself.” She proposed other acts instead. Salon’s Alex Galbraith treated the pick as in keeping with Jay-Z’s decades of self-promotion.

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At a news conference after the owners’ meeting in New York on Oct. 21, Goodell declined to confirm Puck’s report. “I am not aware of a leak,” he said, Front Office Sports reported. “We haven’t announced anything. Until we do, we won’t make any comment on that.”

The league has not addressed the conflict question directly. Since the announcement, its answer has been Goodell’s statement.

Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of music, said “we are so thrilled that he will be taking that stage himself this year,” The Sporting Tribune reported. We found no statement from Roc Nation or Jay-Z on the conflict question.

Who gains from the halftime slot

The booking itself is not a big payday. Halftime headliners don’t get an appearance fee and are paid union scale, CBS News reported, citing Forbes. The league covers production and travel. Pay for performers at NFL events has been in the news this month, after the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders formed a union.

The value is the audience. Bad Bunny’s show last February averaged 128.2 million viewers, fourth all-time, ESPN reported. We covered Bad Bunny’s booking when the NFL announced it in 2025. For a headliner who also runs the production company, that reach benefits both his catalog and the company’s reputation as the show’s producer.

The next announcements to watch are Jay-Z’s special guests, which the NFL, Apple Music and Roc Nation have not named. Kickoff at SoFi is Feb. 14, 2027.