If you're a network executive dreaming up an event than can become the most-watched ever, Super Bowl LV might be it.
Tom Brady of the Buccaneers, the most successful player at the most glamorous position in America's most popular sport. Check.
A turbocharged, red Lamborghini offense led by the NFL's best quarterback of the moment, the Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes. Check.
A captive audience that's either social distancing or stuck inside due to nasty winter weather. Check.
With those elements converging, journalism professor Rich Hanley, who doubles as Quinnipiac University's resident football historian, says LV could beat the U.S. viewership mark of 114.4 million set by XLIX, when Brady's Patriots squeaked past Seattle.
"It's a generational battle, for sure," says Hanley, "in the sense that Brady represents the tradition established by the Patriots over two decades which is phenomenal. Mahomes represents in many ways what Joe Namath represented in the late 60's: the new generation, the hip, young, social media-savvy quarterback who can attract young eyeballs to the screen."
This game has something else to draw you in, even if you're somehow immune to the dramatic matchup: history. Brady is playing in his unprecedented tenth Super Bowl, seeking his not-likely-to-be-matched seventh win. As a result of his success, there's a whole generation of NFL fans who've been trained to think "Brady" whenever they think "Super Bowl."
"Brady has been the face of the NFL and its premier event, the Super Bowl, for a full generation," says Hanley. "Folks who came of age as fans when they were eight or nine years old, it was Brady in the big game. In their late teens or early twenties, Brady is still the face of the game."
The potential clincher for the viewership record? Hanley says it's the scene on your couch and millions like it: "So many in different homes. Instead of having ten or fifty people in one house, you'll have a few people in five houses, and that'll boost ratings."
A captive audience watching a captivating game, maybe living up to a network executive's wildest dreams.