Bad Bunny will have to follow strict Super Bowl rules if he wants to avoid legal action

With the Super Bowl now right around the corner, excited fans are counting down the hours until the biggest night in sport and music.

For those who somehow aren't familiar with the Super Bowl, it's the annual championship game of the National Football League (NFL) in the United States and is hosted in a different city each year.

This year's highly-anticipated event, Super Bowl LX, will be kicking off in at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California on Sunday (8 February).

Sports fanatics will get to watch the New England Patriots take on the Seattle Seahawks - but for a lot of us, myself included, the music is actually the highlight of the night.

Each year, a famous face headlines the half-time show of the event with an incredible performance, with previous celebrities including Kendrick Lamar, Rhianna, Beyoncé, Katy Perry and Bruno Mars, to name a few.

For 2026, we're being treated to a set from Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny, real name Benito Antonio Martinez.

Bad Bunny is headlining this year's Super Bowl half-time show (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)

Playing the Super Bowl is a career highlight and bucket list moment for most musicians - but dream or not it comes with a strict set of regulations.

What are the rules artists have to follow at the Super Bowl?

Cut the music

The first rule is that songs must be shortened for the half-time show.

You can't exactly plan to perform a concert full of songs in such a narrow time slot between 12-15 minutes to be exact.

Instead, artists should showcase the very best of their musical catalogue with a medley, usually made up of their best hits, which have been shortened.

"You're just running around for 13 minutes, trying to put like a two-hour set for 13 minutes," 2023's headliner Rihanna previously said at a press conference, via Billboard.

Keep it PG

Secondly, the half-time show is intended to be a family friendly event and so any swearing or inappropriate gestures could land performers in a lot of trouble.

As reported by The List back in 2012, rapper MIA flashed a middle finger at the cameras during her performance alongside halftime show headliner Madonna.

However, since there were a lot of children watching, this controversial move prompted hundreds of complaints to the Federal Communications Commission and a public apology from the NFL.

The NFL even sued the musician for $16.6 million and in 2014, both parties settled for an undisclosed amount. So, best to keep your middle finger to yourself.

There are a number of strict rules that headliners have to abide by (Icon Sportswire/Getty Images)

Similarly, nudity is strictly prohibited by the NFL - something that Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake learned the hard way.

During their half-time performance in 2004, the American singer, 45, yanked open Jackson's corset, revealing her right breast, which was momentarily broadcast to the world before cameras panned away.

However, seemingly this was long enough to cause an uproar online.

Jackson apologised a few days later and her publicist explained that the wardrobe malfunction was an accident, as Justin 'was supposed to pull away the bustier and leave the red-lace bra,' they explained, via CNN.

However, that didn't stop the consequences, as CBS and Viacom were reportedly sued by the Federal Communications Commission, thankfully though, the case was eventually dismissed.

And according to The List, in 2004, Jackson was banned from the Grammys, and some radio stations even went as far as boycotting her music.

Hurry it up

Finally, the headliner has just six minutes after the football ends to set up for their show.

Audio engineer Patrick Baltzell told The Verge: "Six. Minutes. From the end of the first half of a football game to the beginning of the halftime show is between six and seven minutes."

That's less than ten minutes to shake off any pre-show jitters and get all of the production elements ready to go - nerve-wracking or what?!