Super Bowl Coin Toss: How It Works and What the Winner Chooses
The Super Bowl coin toss follows the same NFL rule as every game: not more than three minutes before kickoff, the referee tosses a coin at the center of the field in front of the captains, and the captain of the visiting team calls heads or tails before the toss. The winner chooses to receive or kick off, or chooses which goal to defend – or defers its choice to the second half. The other team gets the remaining option.
Try it: settling who picks first at your own watch party? A virtual coin has no starting side, so it is a clean 50/50.
Flip a coin onlineWhat does the NFL rulebook say?
Rule 4, Section 2, Article 2 of the Official Playing Rules of the NFL covers the pregame toss:
- It takes place not more than three minutes before the kickoff, at the center of the field.
- The referee tosses the coin in the presence of both teams' captains.
- Before the toss, the captain of the visiting team calls heads or tails – or the captain designated by the referee if there is no home team.
- Unless the winner defers, it chooses one of two privileges and the loser gets the other: (a) receive or kick off, or (b) the goal its team will defend.
Who calls the toss at the Super Bowl?
The game is at a neutral site, but one team is designated the home team and the other the visiting team. Under the rule above, the visiting team's captain makes the call.
What does it mean to defer?
Deferring means the toss winner gives up the first-half choice and gets first choice at the start of the second half instead. A team that defers usually kicks off first and then receives the second-half kickoff. Whether that is better is a coaching decision, not a rule.
What happens at halftime?
The captain who lost the pregame toss gets first choice for the second half – unless the winner deferred, in which case the winner chooses. Immediately before the second half starts, the captains of both teams tell the referee their choices (Rule 4-2-2).
Is there a coin toss in overtime?
Yes – at the end of regulation the referee tosses a coin again, and the visiting team's captain calls it again. The Super Bowl is a postseason game, so postseason overtime rules apply: 15-minute periods, and both teams must have the opportunity to possess the ball at least once, unless the team kicking off scores a safety on the receiving team's first possession. If it is still tied, play continues with further periods until there is a winner.
The regular season now works in a similar way: in 2025 NFL clubs approved a rule giving both teams a chance to possess the ball in regular-season overtime, within a single 10-minute period that can still end in a tie.
Is the coin toss really 50/50?
Close to it. A study of 350,757 flips found coins land on their starting side slightly more often – 50.8% of the time – which is one reason it matters that the call is made before the toss. Read more in is a coin flip really 50/50?
Watch party ideas
Let a coin decide who gets the remote at halftime, or spin the random NFL team generator to give each guest a team to follow next season.