The kids ‘picked last in gym class’ gear up for Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is happening successful Silicon Valley this Sunday, and the Patriots-Seahawks crippled astatine Levi’s Stadium is going to beryllium packed with tech money. YouTube CEO Neal Mohan is expected to beryllium there. Apple’s Tim Cook, too. (He has go a Super Bowl fixture since Apple Music began sponsoring the halftime amusement respective years ago.)

Longtime VC Venky Ganesan from Menlo Ventures gave the New York Times a punctuation astir the full thing, saying the Super Bowl successful the Bay Area is “tech billionaires who got picked past successful gym people paying $50,000 to unreal they’re friends with the guys who got picked first.” Added Ganesan, “And for the record, I, too, was picked past successful gym class.”

Ganesan could apt spend a $50,000 summons if helium needed one. Menlo went all-in connected Anthropic, mounting up a $100 cardinal money with the AI institution successful summertime 2024 to put successful different AI startups. The steadfast has besides joined galore backing rounds for Anthropic itself, some done its flagship money and assorted peculiar intent vehicles. (Anthropic is reportedly expected to adjacent a $20 cardinal round of backing adjacent week astatine a post-money valuation of $350 billion.)

Tickets are costly crossed the board, averaging astir $7,000 according to the Times (with immoderate last-minute seats inactive disposable connected StubHub for person to $3,600, according to a speedy glimpse astatine the summons reseller site). Only a 4th spell to the wide public; the remainder are distributed to NFL teams. Of each summons buyers, the largest radical (27%) is coming from Washington State for the Seahawks, who’ve won conscionable 1 Super Bowl successful franchise past compared with the Patriots’ six titles, each with Tom Brady astatine quarterback.

Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, Amazon, and Meta are splashing retired for competing ads astir whose AI is champion for customers, truthful possibly their respective CEOs volition amusement up, too. Other than Amazon’s Andy Jassy, who reportedly splits his clip betwixt Seattle and Santa Monica, each of them person homes wrong an hr oregon truthful of Sunday’s game.

This is conscionable the 3rd clip the Bay Area has hosted the Super Bowl. The archetypal clip was successful 1985 astatine Stanford Stadium, the archetypal shot stadium astatine Stanford University, wherever the 49ers bushed the Dolphins. The 2nd took spot 10 years agone astatine Levi’s Stadium, erstwhile the Broncos bushed the Panthers.