The Super Bowl isn’t the only game that fans can look forward to on Feb. 9.
It was announced exclusively on TODAY on Jan. 29 that The Athletic, the sports section of The New York Times, will debut its new daily game, Connections: Sports Edition, on Feb. 9, when the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles meet in Super Bowl 59.
The game, which has been in beta mode for the last several months, will look similar to the popular Connections game that is already published by The New York Times.
“Written by The Athletic’s Managing Editor for News — and now puzzle editor — Mark Cooper, the game invites players to group 16 sports-related terms into four categories of four, with a maximum of four mistakes along the way,” a press release read.
A new game will be released each day at midnight local time. It can be found online at theathletic.com/connections.
“Building off the enthusiasm surrounding Connections and the passion sports fans have for competition and bragging rights, we combined the puzzle expertise of The New York Times Games team with the sports expertise of The Athletic to create our first game catering to sports fans,” said David Perpich, publisher of The Athletic.
“We know fans already turn to The Athletic for deep reporting on their favorite teams and leagues, and Connections: Sports Edition feels like the perfect opportunity for them to pair their sports knowledge with fun wordplay. And what better time to officially launch than during the biggest game day of the year.”
The New York Times’ games section has grown in recent years and now includes offerings such as its iconic crossword puzzle, Wordle, Connections, Strands, Mini Crossword, Tiles, Letter Boxed and Spelling Bee. In December, the paper revealed that a total of 11.1 billion puzzles were solved in 2024.