The NFL’s Smartest Halftime Move is BTS and It’s Not Even Close
by Chris Peterson
If the NFL really wants a halftime show that feels like the world we actually live in, then BTS and K-pop should be next.
Next year’s Super Bowl will take place on February 14, 2027, in Los Angeles, and the timing could not be cleaner. BTS is back in full-group mode, with a new album dropping and a major tour cycle rolling out after that. That means this isn’t a legacy act pitch, it’s a “they are literally re-entering global peak visibility right now” pitch.
On a personal level, as a Korean-American, I can’t pretend this one is just another entertainment take for me. I’d love to see this happen. I know what it means to grow up rarely seeing yourself reflected in major American pop culture spaces, and I know what it feels like when that finally changes. A BTS halftime show wouldn’t just be big. For a lot of us, it would feel meaningful.
Now let’s talk impact, because this is where people still act confused. K-pop is not some tiny fandom bubble anymore. It’s a full-scale global music force with serious commercial, brand, and fan-mobilization power.
Also, can we stop pretending a global-language performance is somehow “risky” for halftime? We just watched Bad Bunny trigger a huge worldwide post-show streaming spike. Translation: global artists do not shrink the moment, they expand it.
And yes, let’s say the quiet part out loud: if BTS gets announced, MAGA will absolutely lose their minds. Same pattern we saw with Bad Bunny. Same pattern we’ve seen with Kendrick. Suddenly, everybody becomes a “halftime purity expert” when the artist isn’t centered in their preferred cultural lane. It’s predictable, and honestly, kind of lazy.
But backlash isn’t a reason to avoid the booking. Half the time, it’s confirmation you booked someone relevant enough to scare people who think the biggest stage in America should only reflect their America.
K-pop gives you elite performance precision, camera-ready choreography, huge cross-border engagement, and fandom behavior that can break timelines before kickoff. BTS adds mainstream recognition on top of that, plus comeback momentum. If the NFL wants attention, conversation, and global cultural gravity, this is the play.