A little more than a month after the tragic mass shooting of 26 students and faculty at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., a group of 26 students from the school will perform America the Beautiful during the Super Bowl XLVII pregame show, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy confirmed to USA TODAY Sports on Wednesday.
The league is flying the students and their families down to New Orleans later this week in advance of the performance, which will be broadcast live on CBS shortly before Alicia Keys performs the National Anthem.
The gesture will cap a season in which the league lent its support to the Newtown community via "S.H.E.S." stickers on helmets, personal messages on cleats and gloves, moments of silence before games and charitable donations for relief causes, as well other means of emotional support.
Every once in a while, the NFL gets something really right.





