It’s the closest thing in sports to a total solar eclipse — and it’s about to happen. You see, a peculiar thing takes place every four years: the Super Bowl falls during the Winter Olympics. Once an incredibly rare phenomenon, it’s now becoming more common since the NFL’s move to a 17-g ame season. That means athletes, fans, and yes, even reporters, will find themselves in Italy on Super Bowl Sunday. So what’s an American to do in Milan when the the most-watched sporting event in the United States is happening thousands of miles away at Levi’s Stadium? We found out Europeans have an answer to that question — and it starts with finding an American sports bar at the stroke of midnight. One such bar in Milan is The Offside Sports Pub, whose name gently reminds NFL fans that they’re on the “wrong” side of the Atlantic Ocean for the sport they’re trying to watch. But The Offside doesn’t discriminate. While other sports bars stick mainly to soccer, owner Maurizio Polenghi would never dream of limiting himself. “I do all the sports,” he said. “I love to say that I’m the best sports bar in Milan.” With pennants on the walls celebrating American sports teams from the Boston Red Sox to the Los Angeles Lakers, The Offside has firmly established itself over its 13 year history as “the” place to watch American sports — at very unusual hours. It has menus available in English, burgers and fries, and even American beers on tap, including the Bay Area’s own Lagunitas IPA. “The first real party in this pub was a Super Bowl party,” Polenghi said. “You’ve got a lot of people from every corner of the world. A lot of Americans.” We first visited Polenghi’s cozy pub a year ago, while visiting Milan to report on the upcoming Winter Olympics. At the time, the Philadelphia Eagles were taking on the seemingly unbeatable Kansas City Chiefs — and at midnight, the bar was a sea of green Eagles jerseys, with only a few small specks of Chiefs red. “I study in Milan and I’m here because, yo — I want to see the birds win the Super Bowl,” said Brendan Quinn. He added, “The timing is not ideal.” But he wasn’t the only student burning the midnight oil. “Because why would I miss the best Super Bowl ever?” exclaimed a graduate student from Philadelphia, who then went back to explaining the rules of football to her European friend. In fact, many excited Eagles fans in the bar were busy making new Eagles fans out of their Italian friends and partners. We met Julia and Jordan, who’d been a long distance couple for two years. “I came to see her, and then obviously, Valentine’s is around the corner,” Jordan said. Julia was dutifully wearing a black Philadelphia sweater with an Eagles patch on the shoulder. “I’m an Eagles fan as well,” Julia said. “But I don’t know anything about it, so I’m just here supporting.” But if she does become a fan of the most-watched sport in America, she won’t have to travel all the way to Philly to see it. It turns out Milan has its own professional American football team — and in a scene that could almost come straight out of Ted Lasso, two of the coaches were enjoying a tall, cold beer over at the bar. “I’m an American football coach for the Milano Seaman,” Lou Buschi introduced himself proudly. “They’ve had a following since 1980, believe it or not. They play at the Vigorelli, very close by.” The Seamen, who wear the same colors as the Seattle Seahawks, play in the Italian Football League, and also spent several seasons in the European League of Football. The stadium that’s home to their gridiron and goalposts was originally built for cycling races in the 1930s. The team’s original sponsor was Giorgio Armani in the early 1980s, Buschi said. Not long after that, they gave Buschi, a former American quarterback, the offer of a lifetime. “I had an opportunity back in 1987, and I never left,” he said. Now, as Milan hosts the Olympics and the Bay Area hosts the Super Bowl, the two have even more in common than their historic streetcars and famous Chinatowns. You see, just like the San Francisco 49ers, the Milano Seamen have five Super Bowl titles — but in their case, it’s the Italian Super Bowl (which is now called simply the Italian Bowl). But as for the American Super Bowl, some dedicated fans watching at Polenghi’s pub that night knew the venue well. “I’m a 49ers supporter since 2015,” said Luca Barbaglia. “When we went to Levi’s Stadium, it was a dream come true.” And now, as flag football prepares to make its debut at the summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028, one Eagles fan seemed determined to make a case for football as a winter sport — excitedly flinging ice everywhere as he jumped up and down with excitement, shaking his cocktail glass. It just proves you don’t have to be American to love America’s version of football. “I love Europe because of the love that these guys have for the game,” Buschi said. ...read more read less