Why is the US national anthem called “The Star-Spangled Banner”?

The airing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” is now very much part of the fabric of US sports and has been performed regularly at the beginning of NFL games since the end of WWII by order of then NFL commissioner Elmer Layden.

The song has also been a regular feature at baseball games with the NHL (The National Hockey League) and MLS (Major League Soccer) both require venues in both the U.S. and Canada to perform both the Canadian and U.S. national anthems at games that involve teams from both countries (with the “away” anthem being performed first).

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The iconic Marvin Gaye offered gave a soul-influenced performance at the 1983 NBA All-Star Game and Whitney Houston gave a soulful rendition before Super Bowl XXV in 1991, which was released as a single that charted the same year.

At Super Bowl XLVII’s pre-game ceremony in 2014, soprano Renée Fleming became the first opera singer to perform the National Anthem at a football game, and her emotional, groundbreaking performance (one of the most critically acclaimed renditions of all time) led the Fox network to the highest ratings of any program in the company’s history and remains so today.

The origins of the ‘Star Spangled Banner’

The lyrics for the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ come from the “Defence of Fort M’Henry”, a poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by British ships of the Royal Navy in Outer Baltimore Harbor in the Patapsco River during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812.

Key was inspired by the large U.S. flag, with 15 stars and 15 stripes, known as the Star-Spangled Banner, flying triumphantly above the fort during the U.S. victory.

The poem was set to the tune of a popular British song written by John Stafford Smith for the Anacreontic Society, a men’s social club in London and soon became synonymous with American patriotism and in March, 1931, the U.S. Congress passed a joint resolution making the song the official national anthem of the United States.

Star Spangled Banner at Super Bowl LVIII

R&B star Usher will look to wow the crowd at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium on Sunday during the half-time interval with Reba McEntire set to perform the national anthem at Super Bowl LVIII as part of a preGame performance in Vegas.

Post Malone is slated to sing “America the Beautiful” before McEntire takes the stage and Andra Day will then perform a rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”

Following Chris Stapleton in 2023, 68-year-old McEntire, is the second consecutive country performer to be given Super Bowl anthem assignment.