JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Whoops! The NFL fumbled a Super Bowl promotion.
The advertisement, posted on the league's official Facebook page Tuesday evening, offered football fans a chance to win two tickets to the Super Bowl in Minneapolis next month.
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That seems innocuous enough, except when you consider that the advertisement was promoting a showdown between the New England Patriots and the Minnesota Vikings.
This is a weird post @NFL ... don’t you think? 🤔 https://t.co/bkmo51WIuq pic.twitter.com/cy3pqwiuud
— Brandon Longo (@brandonlongo) January 19, 2018
For those keeping score at home, neither team has secured a Super Bowl berth yet. They’re still preparing for the AFC and NFC title games against the Jaguars and Eagles on Sunday.
The post is authentic. Screenshots feature a link that connects users to a legitimate site for the promotion. While the post has been deleted, it still links back to the NFL’s page.
To the league's credit, it fessed up to the error. In a statement to NJ Advance Media, a league spokesperson called the premature promotion a "regrettable mistake."
"The ads were mocked up using all the combinations, but weren't supposed to go until Monday when the matchup is known. Obviously, someone jumped the gun," the statement said in part.