Rihanna — or the NFL — paid over half a million for her luxe Super Bowl stay

While some Rihanna fans may think her Super Bowl performance was a little too chill to be truly magnificent, she and the NFL must be pleased overall with her otherwise epic halftime show and her surprise pregnancy announcement — enough so that no one minds paying more than half a million dollars for her luxury accommodations in Arizona.

To perform at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona on Sunday, Rihanna — or someone on her behalf — rented a sprawling estate about 30 miles away in Paradise Valley for six nights, TMZ reported. The five-bedroom, five-bathroom home, with a pool, bocce ball court and walk-in wine cellar, rents for $85,000 a night, or more than $500,000 for Rihanna’s entire stay.

TMZ said that Rihanna rented the estate, but it’s also been reported that the NFL usually covers the travel expenses of its halftime show stars. That’s part of the same NFL policy that bars the league from paying the stars to perform.

Yes, Rihanna reportedly wasn’t paid a cent for her 13-minute set, in which she ran through some of her greatest hits while revealing she’s pregnant with her second child with A$AP Rocky — with a baby bump visible beneath her dramatic all-red ensemble.

Per custom, the league foots the bill for travel expenses, which presumably includes luxury transport and accommodations. The league also covers the costs related to the production of the halftime show — which can be pretty sizable.

But even if Rihanna didn’t earn a big paycheck Sunday, the Grammy winner may think her Super Bowl appearance was worth it. She and her family got to stay in a beautiful estate, and she probably boosted interest in her Fenty beauty brand and stoked even more anticipation for her next album — which she told Good Morning America is coming, though she couldn’t provide specifics.

One thing that Super Bowl halftime performers can usually count on is that they will enjoy major financial benefits. When Justin Timberlake performed in 2018, his music sales rose 534% that same day, while Lady Gaga saw her album and singles sales jump 1,000% for her 2017 set, Esquire said. When Jennifer Lopez performed with Shakira in 2020, she  gained 2.3 million new followers across her social media platforms.

Meanwhile, Rihanna stirred up social media for other reasons Thursday, by posting images of herself and her nine-month-old son, whose name she has yet to reveal, in the new issue of British Vogue. When a fan, for some reason, took issue with the post, asking, “Who calls a baby fine,” the singer clapped back: “His mother.”