Kids ‘picked the last in gym class’ in preparation for the Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is happening in Silicon Valley this Sunday, and the Patriots-Seahawks game at Levi’s Stadium will be full of tech money. YouTube CEO Neal Mohan is expected to attend. Apple’s Tim Cook too. (He’s been a Super Bowl performer since Apple Music started supporting the show a few years ago.)

Longtime VC Venky Ganesan from Menlo Ventures gave a statement to the New York Times about the whole thing, saying the Super Bowl in the Bay Area is “billionaires who were chosen as finalists in a gym class who pay $50,000 to pretend they are friends with the guys who were chosen first.” Added Ganesan, “And for the record, I, too, was ranked last in gym class.”

Ganesan probably could have bought a $50,000 ticket if he wanted to. Menlo went all in on Anthropic, setting up a $100 million fund with the AI ​​company in the summer of 2024 to invest in other AI startups. The company has also invested heavily in Anthropic itself, through its flagship fund and a range of special vehicles. (Anthropic says it is expected to close a $20 billion round funds next week at a cost of $350 billion.)

Tickets are expensive across the board, around $7,000 according to the Times (with last-minute seats still available on StubHub around $3,600, according to a quick look at the ticketing website). Only a quarter goes to the common people; the rest is distributed to NFL teams. Among all ticket buyers, the largest group (27%) is from Washington State for the Seahawks, who have won only one Super Bowl in franchise history compared to six titles for the Patriots, all with Tom Brady at quarterback.

Google,OpenAI, Anthropic, Amazonand Measure they’re rushing to advertise who AI is good for customers, so maybe their CEOs will show up, too. With the exception of Amazon’s Andy Jassy, ​​who reportedly splits his time between Seattle and Santa Monica, all have homes within an hour or so of Sunday’s game.

This is the third time the Bay Area has hosted the Super Bowl. The first time was in 1985 at Stanford Stadium, the original football stadium at Stanford University, when the 49ers beat the Dolphins. The second happened 10 years ago at Levi’s Stadium, when the Broncos defeated the Panthers.