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SAN FRANCISCO – America’s 250th birthday is a year-long celebration, and the world of sports takes center stage.
America250 and the NFL announced a partnership in November that will see the America250 logo appear on footballs and fields from Week 18 through the playoffs.
Now the celebration meets the Super Bowl.
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An American flag is on the field prior to the regular season game between the San Francisco 49ers and the New York Giants on November 12, 2017 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. (Samuel Stringer/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
“What better way to think about our country’s biggest milestone than to be at our country’s biggest sporting event?” America250 Chair Rosie Rios told Pakinomist in San Francisco on Radio Row.
Fans will be part of an interactive experience prior to kickoff where the America250 logo will appear in the stands, which will be filled in red, white and blue thanks to panels given to each fan in attendance, creating a picture-perfect patriotic scene that everyone will see on television.
For Rios, the celebration hits — literally — as a Bay Area native. But as the mother of an athlete, Rios knows that sports are “a big part of American culture,” making the America250’s involvement in the sports world inevitable.
“My kids are still great athletes, and I think for all of us, whether it’s soccer, whether it’s basketball, we know the eyes of the world are going to see what happens in the United States with the World Cup and then two short years later with the Olympics,” Rios said. “Although we are not the world, the world is us, and with that comes this responsibility to work closely together to ensure that all 350 million Americans are engaged in this effort.”
A football with the text “America 250” is shown to the camera during the game between the New Orleans Saints and the Atlanta Falcons at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on January 4, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
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“To think it’s all happening at Levi’s Stadium is so important because this is my home. I was born and raised in the East Bay, I still live in the East Bay, so to come home for the Super Bowl, it’s like winning the lottery,” Rios continued. “So to get the eyes of the world to see what’s happening at the Super Bowl, America250 is going to be front and center, we’re going to be on the sidelines, we’re going to have our flag flying as part of the flyover, we’re going to have a very special interactive fan experience in the stadium that everybody’s going to see. For someone whose parents came to this great country in 1958, I think this American dream is happening and I’m everything that’s going to happen in the American dream. The place where I’m at born and bred, it doesn’t get any better’.
President Donald Trump has not been shy about his love of sports, attending numerous events even during his presidency, including last year’s Super Bowl. Last year he attended the FIFA Club World Cup, a New York Yankees game, the Ryder Cup, a Washington Commanders game and others.
A general view of the America 250 logo on the sidelines prior to an NFL football game between the Chicago Bears and the Detroit Lions at Solider Field on January 4, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Todd Rosenberg/Getty Images)
“You’ll hear President Trump talk about it all the time, his role in the World Cup, his role in the Olympics, his role with the America250, he’s absolutely all in. We represent all three branches of government, I’m appointed by the president, and it’s a great honor to serve my country in this way,” Rios said of Trump.
The America250 will have a UFC event on June 14, Trump’s 80th birthday, and an IndyCar race in August.
