Jon Bon Jovi turns 64 in three weeks, but his relationship with football feels ageless. The New Jersey rocker will introduce the New England Patriots before kickoff at Super Bowl 60 on Feb. 8 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, stepping into the same role Jon Hamm and Bradley Cooper filled last year.
His pairing with Chris Pratt, who’ll handle duties for the Seattle Seahawks, adds star power to pregame ceremonies. But what looks like a celebrity cameo runs deeper than it seems. Born John Francis Bongiovi Jr. on March 2, 1962, in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, the frontman will celebrate his 64th birthday less than a month after Super Bowl 60.
Jon Bon Jovi’s Patriots Role at Super Bowl 60 Rooted in Decades-Long Friendship
Bon Jovi’s Patriots fandom began when Bill Belichick was a young defensive coordinator under Bill Parcells with the New York Giants in the late 1980s. The singer, a Giants fan from Sayreville, New Jersey, connected with the coaching staff and became a fixture at practices. When Parcells and Belichick moved to New England in the 1990s, Bon Jovi followed.
His allegiance stuck through both coaches’ departures and returns. Belichick remembers their friendship stretching back more than 30 years, noting Parcells wasn’t the one inviting the rock star to practice. The younger coaches on staff connected with Bon Jovi, who showed up with long hair tucked under a cap, holding water bottles on the sideline.
That access deepened when Bon Jovi befriended Patriots owner Robert Kraft in 1996. A photo from that year’s Super Bowl practice hangs in Kraft’s office at Gillette Stadium.
The rocker owns two Super Bowl rings and attends training camp annually. In a 2020 interview, Bon Jovi described himself as the team’s waterboy and mascot, someone who stayed respectful and out of the way while building real relationships.
Belichick once joked about grabbing drinks with Bon Jovi in New Orleans the day before Super Bowl 31. That era’s less restrictive atmosphere allowed them to walk back to the hotel with sugary cocktails, half-buzzed on a Saturday afternoon. The Patriots lost to Green Bay that night, but the friendship endured through six championships and two decades of dominance.
The timing of Bon Jovi’s Super Bowl appearance coincides with a career resurgence. His band announced the Forever Tour in October, marking their first tour since his 2022 vocal surgery. The run begins July 7 at Madison Square Garden with multiple New York dates before heading to Edinburgh, Dublin, and London in August.
His Patriots connection extends beyond friendship. Years ago, he wrote about his relationship with the team, calling Belichick “the classiest act in all of football” and his “best friend in the game.” Gillette Stadium speakers played “This Is Our House,” a Bon Jovi track written for the team, after most scores.
During the 2018 AFC Championship Game, Bon Jovi conducted a stadium-wide sing-along to “Livin’ on a Prayer” from the owner’s box. Belichick called it a special moment the next day.
