Turning Point Halftime Show Scores a Touchdown

Victor Joecks
Tue, 17 Feb 2026 17:35:21 -0800
Opinion

The Seattle Seahawks held up the Lombardi trophy, but the biggest winner on Super Bowl Sunday was Turning Point USA.

The Super Bowl halftime show is one of the most-viewed television events of the year. But conservatives felt alienated when the NFL announced the headliner would be Bad Bunny. The singer is an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. After his selection, Bad Bunny told his critics, "You have four months to learn (Spanish)." This is just the latest example of the NFL pushing a woke agenda on its conservative fan base.

In October, Turning Point announced that it would be offering an alternative — The All American Halftime Show. It's hard to overstate how completely absurd that sounded.
Updated: Tue Feb 17, 2026

The Seattle Seahawks held up the Lombardi trophy, but the biggest winner on Super Bowl Sunday was Turning Point USA.

The Super Bowl halftime show is one of the most-viewed television events of the year. But conservatives felt alienated when the NFL announced the headliner would be Bad Bunny. The singer is an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. After his selection, Bad Bunny told his critics, "You have four months to learn (Spanish)." This is just the latest example of the NFL pushing a woke agenda on its conservative fan base.

In October, Turning Point announced that it would be offering an alternative — The All American Halftime Show. It's hard to overstate how completely absurd that sounded.

Charlie Kirk founded Turning Point in 2012 to reach out to high school and college students. Kirk grew the group into a powerhouse both on campuses and in the political arena. The Charlie Kirk Show, led by Kirk and Andrew Kolvet, also gained a large following.

Turning Point's political accomplishments are impressive, but it isn't a major player in the music industry.

Then, in September 2026, an assassin murdered Kirk on a college campus. Along with being devastating for Kirk's family, friends and many admirers, it could have destroyed his organization.

Yet less than a month later, Turning Point decided to challenge the biggest ratings juggernaut of them all — the NFL on Super Bowl Sunday.

The audacity of this boggles the mind. The chances of failure were significant. Imagine recruiting talent on short notice to perform opposite the Super Bowl halftime show. No one would have blamed Turning Point if it had quietly reversed course.

It didn't. Its alternative halftime show, featuring Kid Rock, Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice and Gabby Barrett, drew more than 6 million concurrent viewers on YouTube. As of this writing, it has more than 25 million views on YouTube. The Super Bowl halftime show has 78 million views on YouTube.

Of course, the Super Bowl halftime show had a massive live TV audience. It drew 128.2 million viewers on NBC's platforms. The game's viewership peaked at 137.8 million in the second quarter.

Success for Turning Point wasn't beating the NFL in ratings. It was proving that an alternative halftime show was viable and that Turning Point could pull it off. It succeeded on both fronts. This will likely cost the NFL millions of dollars in future ad revenue.

Turning Point is now in a strong position when selling ads for its next halftime show. Those funds could make that one an even bigger draw.

There's a lesson here for conservatives. It's not enough to rightly point out the many things wrong with our culture and society. Conservatives must create alternatives.

Turning Point successfully took on the NFL. Whatever challenge you face will be much less daunting than that. Even if you reach six people, not 6 million people, go build something.