For the first time in 15 years, The Star-Spangled Banner will be a duet when Eric Church and Jazmine Sullivan perform ahead of the start of Super Bowl LV. And in line with the recent trend toward speedy renditions of the American national anthem, the odds of this year's performance lasting under 1:59 sit at a short minus-145 on the Super Bowl LV props at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
The legendary Aretha Franklin teamed up with Aaron Neville to turn in a lengthy 2:08 rendition the last time two people handled anthem duties back at Super Bowl 40. However, recent performances have been dramatically shorter, with performances lasting no more than 1:53 in each of the past three years going into Sunday night's games at Raymond James Stadium.
Church and Sullivan's rendition is expected to be flawless, with minus-2000 odds at online betting sites favouring the pair to not omit or forget any words. Their performance is also not expected to be accompanied by protest, with the odds of a player kneeling during the song pegged as a plus-1200 longshot.
Following Church and Sullivan's performance, the focus turns to the coin toss. Theoretically, both heads and tails enjoy an equal chance of turning up, and each are priced accordingly, at minus-105. But it is tough to ignore the current win streak for tails, which has turned up in six of the past seven years. In addition, teams winning the coin toss have consistently struggled in the big game, with the team winning the toss going on to lose the game in each of the past six years. That trend has contributed to strengthening minus-130 odds against this year's coin toss winner going on to win the Super Bowl.
This year's big game also features some Canadian content, with The Weeknd taking centre stage for the Super Bowl halftime show. The Weeknd is expected to give fans their money's worth, with minus-200 odds favouring a set featuring over eight songs. However, The Weeknd is expected to stay focused on the music, with the Toronto native pegged as a plus-400 longshot on the NFL odds to mention Canada during his performance.
A year ago, the Kansas City Chiefs defied expectations by dousing winning coach Andy Reid with an orange Gatorade shower. Orange leads the way to be the preferred colour of the winning team this time around as plus-100 chalk. A popular choice among sports bettors a year ago, red sits second at plus-300. Blue was the colour of choice in two of Tom Brady's past three Super Bowl wins, and is listed as a more lucrative plus-700 wager for Sunday.
