As the Super Bowl nears and 49ers fans continue to flock to Las Vegas for the big game, members of the Grammy-winning Norteño band Los Tigres del Norte out of the South Bay say they would love to get a shot someday at the big stage in the halftime show.
"I'm a big fan," Los Tigres Del Norte bandmember Luis Hernandez said about rooting for the 49ers. "We're very big fans and whenever I have the opportunity to go to the game, we're there."
In fact, when one of the vocalists took a picture during a playoff game, someone created a meme saying "The Chiefs have Taylor Swift, but the Niners have Los Tigres Del Norte."
Los Tigres Del Norte knows they do not have that crossover appeal, but after they saw NBC Bay Area's report from Las Vegas on the NFL's efforts to tout and harvest the growing Latino fan base, Los Tigres Del Norte asked, "Why not us at halftime? Why not now?"
Get San Diego local news, weather forecasts, sports and lifestyle stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC San Diego newsletters.
"We haven't lost hope that one day we will perform at halftime," Los Tigres Del Norte bandmember Hernan Hernandez said.
Los Tigres Del Norte have performed for the troops in Germany and Japan, and they held a tribute concert to Johnny Cash inside the walls of Folsom Prison 50 years after Cash performed there himself.
The band has a hit titled El Jefe De Jefes, or the chief of chiefs, hoping the song strikes a cord on Sunday.
"We have to win this game," Luis Hernandez said. "We have to show the other team that we are Los Jefes De Jefes."
Los Tigres Del Norte first played in San Jose in 1968 and never left. They consider themselves as much American as they are Mexican. The band said a halftime invitation will be a winning hand for the NFL.
