On “Super Sunday,” when the on-field action doesn’t live up to the weeks of hype, the ads can be better than the game.

(Insert your own “with-Tom-Brady-back-in-the-Super-Bowl-that’s guaranteed” joke but at your own risk in case uber Patriots fan Matt Triplett sees the comment.)

Regardless of the final score, PBR fans will come away smiling after seeing a new commercial for the league set to premiere before kickoff in Atlanta.

The striking new TV ad, the first national brand commercial in the sport’s 26-year history, will launch its new ad campaign, “Be Cowboy.”

The spot shows everyday people – a school teacher, a fire fighter, a real working cowboy – portraying the inner cowboy in all of us as the shadow of a cowboy trails behind.

“You don’t have to wear the hat, the buckle or the boots to be a cowboy – it’s the values you have, how you act and live,” said Sean Gleason, CEO, PBR. “The campaign is a call for all honest, hard-working Americans to rediscover and unleash their inner cowboy.”

The campaign will roll out fully when PBR debuts at Staples Center in Los Angeles on Feb. 22-23.

Breaking a national brand campaign on the biggest day for the NFL, and marketers in general, makes a lot of sense for a sport that’s bucking into the mainstream.

In Glendale in January, PBR on CBS was the No. 2 sport on TV, trailing only the NFL. PBR drew more viewers than the NHL on NBC, the PGA, LPGA, Australian Open Tennis and the Premier League. Now, the fast-growing sports league is joining the Super Bowl party on CBS.

“The cowboy has always been portrayed to look like John Wayne or the Marlboro Man. It becomes even more than a stereotype; it’s a caricature,” said Ryan Wagman, Executive Creative Director, Endeavor Global Marketing, the cultural marketing agency within the Endeavor network that includes PBR which created the spot.

“We found the cowboy to be very inclusive and about the values we all have such as bravery, courage, fearlessness, hard work, personal pride and giving back.”

The campaign can help PBR appeal to a much broader audience, thereby “opening the tent to PBR,” according to Wagman.

“You’re a cowboy whether you know it or not,” Wagman said. “If you’re a cowboy, you should be with cowboys. And if you want to do that, you should be with PBR cowboys.”

To find everyday cowboys, Endeavor Global Marketing cast real people in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

“We looked for a variety of backgrounds, ages, occupation, and color,” Wagman said. “But it’s much less about what people looked like than what they were like. We cast for people who embody blood, sweat and tears; the fearless, tough and proud. They weren’t styled. They came with their own clothes and stories. We tried to bring their real personality to the screen.”

The spot millions of fans will see on Sunday is the 30-second version. A longer video will be shown in arenas across the country prior to PBR events. Fans will also see “Be Cowboy” in local advertising, on the western sports network RidePass, and in geo-targeted Facebook ads.

PBR traditionally runs TV ads that promote big events, like World Finals. Now with Be Cowboy, the sport will also commit to general advertising explaining its “brand essence,” in the parlance of the marketers.

The Be Cowboy concept was actually sparked with a giant diss – when a professor at the University of Wyoming launched a protest against the school’s slogan, “The world needs more cowboys.”

Gleason decided it was time to explode ridiculous stereotypes.

“When uninformed people started calling cowboys racist, sexist and non-inclusive, we knew it was time to step up and tell the truth,” he said. “Cowboys are diverse and inclusive. We want to share that reality, change misperceptions and connect more people to a completely welcoming sport.”

The new campaign reaches out to millions of Americans who may not know about bull riding but share the sport’s values, while staking a claim to one of the world’s most identifiable and revered icons.

“We’re really proud of Be Cowboy because it truly shows who we are,” Gleason said. “Debuting on the Super Bowl, the biggest advertising day of the year, is the place to start encouraging all Americans to unleash their inner cowboy.”