On Sunday night, most people will be sitting in front of the TV with a table full of appetizers and snacks watching the Philadelphia Eagles play against the New England Patriots.

However, St. Thomas students Cory Spawn and Joe Sladek will not be having a typical Super Bowl experience this year: they will be at the U.S. Bank Stadium preparing for the halftime show set-up for Justin Timberlake.

“We pull off what we like to call the 24-minute miracle, also known as the Super Bowl LII halftime show,” said Spawn, a junior studying communication and journalism.

“The miracle” consists of a six-minute set-up, a 12-minute performance by Justin Timberlake and a six-minute teardown of the stage. Spawn and Sladek are part of 500 field team members who will assemble the Super Bowl LII Pepsi Halftime Show stage during Sunday’s game.

“When you’re running along with this equipment back and forth, it’s a lot of work,” Sladek said. “It’s an athletic event. You’re sweating afterwards.”

The field team members began 40 hours of rehearsals about two weeks prior to the Super Bowl LII game, Sladek said. They practice in the U.S. Bank Stadium.

“It’s kind of weird to think about that, actually,” said Spawn. “These seats that I put my jacket in are going to cost 10,000 dollars next week.”

Spawn has always been interested in the behind-the-scenes and video work of the Super Bowl. Each year as he watched the show, he said, he would “sit there and critique the broadcast.”

Spawn applied for the opportunity over Thanksgiving break and invited Sladek to join him in this experience.

Both Spawn and Sladek work for the ITS department on campus. Sladek works for the event support division, which assists in setting up the audio and visual equipment necessary for campus events. Spawn works for the media production services division, which involves studio recording and production.

Spawn started learning technical skills by helping his hometown church in Stillwater, Minnesota with sound, lighting and video. He also spends his summers working on wedding videos and setting up concerts. This Super Bowl experience gives Spawn a sneak peak into his future. He wants do the behind the scenes work of live events.

On campus, Sladek plays the trombone in the Pep Band. He is a sophomore from Green Bay, Wisconsin double majoring in biology and English. He hopes to combine the two studies and write patent law.

Although many people have things they want to do before they die, being on the Super Bowl halftime set-up team is not usually one of them.

“It was one of the least-known bucket lists. It was the unknown bucket list for a lot of people,” said Sladek. “And it’s really a lot of fun.”