For a sport that has an incredibly small footprint on these shores, the NFL and its grand season finale, the Super Bowl, certainly manage to kick up a fuss each year. More and more people are watching Red Zone, have fantasy teams, are going to the capital to watch the games, and skipping work on the Monday after Super Bowl Sunday!

The end of the NFL’s 2024 regular season comes with Week 18 (the week ending January 5), with the playoffs kicking off with the Wild Card Weekend on January 11. Eventually, they’ll reach the Conference Championship games on January 26, deciding the two Super Bowl contenders.

After a little break for the Pro Bowl, Super Bowl LIX will then arrive on February 9 2025, taking place in New Orleans – six hours behind the UK. Here, kick-off will be at 11:30pm, likely running until at least 2:30am on Monday. So, here’s what you can do to get hyped and ready for the NFL’s big show!

Get in the Game

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Obviously, one of the best things that you can do is head down to the nearest field, park, or beach with a proper Wilson American football, and give it a throw about with some friends. It’s not the easiest thing for a non-native to get the hang of, with the carrying, catching, and kicking side being much more intuitive to us Brits. But it’s good fun nonetheless. If there’s enough of you, you could even get a bit of flag football going.

Alternatively, if you prefer the warm indoors this time of year, there are plenty of entertainment options that centre on the sport. It’s become prevalent enough that there are even rather popular slot games for gridiron football. Playable with the deposit match casino welcome offer, the slot game Quarterback: Fields of Glory has shot up the charts over the last couple of months. Come Super Bowl Sunday, it’ll be the biggest slot around.

If online casino gaming isn’t your thing, one of the most accessible and enjoyable American football games out there is Retro Bowl. Available on all devices, it has a fun, straightforward franchise mode and controls that are easy to grasp while you plot your game plans. Alternatively, for hands-off entertainment, turn to the All or Nothing series and its behind-the-scenes look at the Cardinals, Rams, Cowboys, Panthers, and Eagles.

Prepare for a Night Out or a Night In

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Super Bowl LVIII broke records in the UK. Its viewership figures across the two television broadcasts hit 3.4 million unique viewers, with the peak sitting pretty at 1.73 million just after it kicked off. With the NFL gaining more and more fans on this side of the pond, those figures look set to grow with Sky Sports and ITV again showing the action live.

The half-time show will also feature Kendrick Lamar, who’s had a huge year in the charts. So, you’d think there’d be plenty of places showing the game. We’ll have to wait a bit closer to February to find out the more local options to Brentwood and Essex generally, as it’ll require very late opening hours.

That said, Walkabout always has its venues open for the Super Bowl, and BrewDog has been known to follow suit. If not, you can have fun hosting, especially as Louisiana and Mardi Gras invite you to make some crafty snacks for the game. Check out dishes like beignets, gumbo, dirty rice, Cajun-stuffed chicken, and the Muffuletta for inspiration.

The Super Bowl in 2025 looks set to be bigger than ever for the fans of Essex, so be sure to get prepped nice and early for the big game!