The biggest sports and pop-culture event of the year wasn’t enough to prevent one man from dozing off in his very expensive seat at the Super Bowl, where footage of his nap catapulted him to viral fame on Sunday.
Sporting News editor Karisa Maxwell captured footage of the sleeping man from her spot in the stands at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., during the first quarter of Super Bowl LIV.
“Somehow, this man is sleeping through the Super Bowl,” Maxwell tweeted to her followers. “We’re still only in the first quarter.”
The man is shown sitting in a seat with his head leaning back against a wall, legs crossed, eyes closed and mouth open. Several football fans can be seen standing up to watch the game in front of him, but he seems unconcerned with the showdown between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs.
The reporter asked her Twitter followers whether she should wake him up. However, one of his friends beat her to it after apparently recognizing him in her viral tweet.
“He just woke up,” Maxwell tweeted. “Oh no, should I tell him?”
Later, she wrote: “His friend is currently showing him the video. The whole section knows. WHAT DO I DO?!”
Maxwell told Storyful she did not speak to the man and that he has not yet been publicly identified by other news outlets.
However, he’s already become an internet sensation for sleeping in what was probably a very expensive seat.
Tickets to the game set a new record on the secondary market this year, with the average price of one seat eclipsing US$6,400, CBS News reports.
“You gotta be rich to spend $1,500 plus on a Super Bowl ticket just to sleep at the game,” one user tweeted at Maxwell.
“My man just wanted some time away from his kids,” another person said.
“That is an expensive nap!” added a third person on Twitter.
Several people applauded the man for being able to fall asleep amid the loud buzz of a live Super Bowl crowd.
“No sleep mask. No ear plugs. No weighted blanket. Pure talent,” wrote user Valerie Marissa Michaels, adding the hashtag #Respect.
Several corporate brands tried to twist the moment into a bit of additional advertising, with Coca-Cola, Heinz and Walmart sliding into the comments section on Twitter.
It’s unclear whether the man managed to stay awake for Jennifer Lopez and Shakira during the halftime show.
The Chiefs ultimately won the game by a score of 31-20, but many non-football fans described the napper as the real winner.
“Napping while watching football is very relatable to me,” one individual tweeted. “When you gotta nap, you gotta nap.”