Super-athlete Bo Jackson meets a mermaid and a horse with wings in Sprint's Super Bowl 2019 ad.

"How do we tell people they get the best of both worlds with Sprint?" Paul Marcarelli, the Sprint spokesman formerly known as the Verizon spokesman, asks a few cute robots hanging out with him in a living room. Replies one of them: "How about we get two-sport legend Bo Jackson?"

Jackson, a former American baseball and football player, then appears on the scene holding a mermaid clutching a keytar (as mermaids do). With a "bird horse" flapping over his left shoulder, he urges customers to choose Sprint for its nationwide LTE Advanced network, an upgraded form of 4G delivering internet speeds up to twice as fast as before. Jackson says customers will also save $1,000 over Verizon and AT&T.

Sprint needs to go big since with its ad it's the last-place national carrier that's still losing subscribers. All of this may be moot, with Sprint hoping regulators approve T-Mobile's bid to acquire it.

The other wireless carriers expected to broadcast Super Bowl commercials will no doubt have their own take on the best choice. And the wireless companies aren't just dropping money for ads during the big game. They've spent millions to ensure your Instagram posts and livestreams from in and around Mercedes-Benz Stadium don't jam on Sunday.

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