After a bloated Super Bowl in Dallas, it's time to rein in big game

[Blue_Tires]

It's a rough morning-after for the NFL. The Dallas Super Bowl was a bender, but now that the confetti has fallen, it looks like litter. The hangover has hit, a splitting headache and a sour stomach from the $19 margaritas and the $12 wine and the $10 beers and the rest of the fiscal insanity. Is this really what the NFL wants to become? A divorced-from-reality debauch?

I don't know about you, but I don't want to live in Jerry World. In Jerry World, a $1.15 billion stadium looks like the Taj Mahal on the outside, but inside some of the seats violate the fire code. In Jerry World, the state of Texas spends $31 million to host the Super Bowl, even as deficits force public school cuts. In Jerry World, it can cost $900 just to park. In Jerry World, fans pay hundreds of dollars to stand outside the stadium.

Buried somewhere in all of the superbull, the booze, bad concerts and relentless commercial squeeze, there was a good football game between the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers. But to be honest, it was an ancillary event. The NFL may want to rethink that strategy. It may also want to rethink its tendency to look like the Marie Antoinette of the sports world.

Everything you need to know about the future of the NFL could be seen in the gloriously decadent stadium that hosted this Super Bowl. As NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell pointed out, "Quite frankly, that's our stage." It was the cleanest, safest, nicest stadium anyone has ever visited. It was also the most extravagant and economically stratified. It cost double what Jerry Jones said it would, and taxpayers financed about a quarter of it, yet its innermost marble interiors are totally inaccessible to the average fan.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/07/AR2011020705610.html

This might be the first halfway decent thing Jenkins has written...

[MineralMan]

1. Why would the NFL want to do that?

100+ million viewers. Huge revenues. What would be their motivation to change it?

As for excluding people from the game, it was broadcast on over-the-air television. Anyone with a TV set could watch it for free. And 100+ million did exactly that.

[cleanhippie]

7. You make very good points.

[4_TN_TITANS]

20. "Anyone with a TV set could watch it for free."....

How long do you think it will be before the SB becomes pay-per-view???

[MineralMan]

21. That's unlikely, since advertising revenue would drop dramatically.

Advertisers will pay for huge audiences. They want to reach as many people as possible. Pay-per-view can't even come close to the revenues generated by advertising on over-the-air broadcasts of something this universally watched.

It ain't happening.

[northoftheborder]

2. Exactly. Didn't know Texas spent $31 m. to host the circus.

:puke: professional football in general

[Jokerman]

3. Next year, we get to host this mess.

Our schools are broke and our libraries are closing down but we still have an endless stream of public money for welfare queens who own football teams.

[leveymg]

4. Time to rethink the real cost of professional sports in America,

What, really, is the purpose of the NFL and the Super Bowl? Bread and Circuses? Fodder for the Vegas gambling industry? A tax write-off for billionaire owners and perks for corporate sky boxes? A celebration of brute force and ignorance?

All the above.

Do we really want to continue subsidizing this spectacle by passing on advertising costs and tax write-offs to the consumer and taxpayer?

[Tippy]

8. I can tolerate the gambling but not

Prostituting little girls....No one can tell me they can not put a stop to this....local law emforcement/team ownders are getting their cut for turning a blind eye to what goes on...

[leveymg]

10. Look at what happened to Russia and Eastern Europe after their empire collapsed

Women became just another commodity for export and global trafficking in illicit goods. The Mafiyya moves into control the most profitable banned goods, which are (no coincidence) the most illicit. Same thing's happening as the dust rises from the collapsing American empire.

[tblue37]

13. As someone who teaches in college, I wish we could also reconsider

the logic if having universities field semiprofessional sports teams that act as the farm teams for professional football and basketball. (At least baseball trains its own up and comers in the minors.)

[exboyfil]

19. Amen

Our local university gets $4.5M/year from the general fund for sports. That is $350/student/year. Even though I take pride in the sport's teams accomplishment, it comes at too high a price.

On the flip side if you only keep four sports, then they should be football, men's basketball, woman's basketball, and probably woman's volleyball (equal number for Title 9). At many schools the football and basketball fund the entire sports budget.

[swilton]

31. ++++

The games are more for the rich alums than the students - and talk about pay per view - one can't even get the bowl games over the internet without a payment...Don't think that pay per view won't come to pro football as it's already happening in college 'farms for the pros' games.....and note the college stadium names have been replaced by corporate logos....wonderful game college football....:sarcasm:

[hedgehog]

5. When I saw the image of all those people with the money to blow on

a football game while food pantries in my area are begging, I was absolutely disgusted. Then came the pretense that this bloated, wretched excess was somehow the epitome of American patriotism.

And, truthfully, how many of the players will end up crippled with arthritis or going to an early grave from cumulative brain damage? For what? A couple hours' entertainment?


At least the Romans were honest about their Bread and Circuses!

I will admit, although I was deep enough into my book that I can honestly say I don't know who won, I did watch the commercials. Some of them were cute, some of them were good, but a couple were a tad on the sleezy side. I know that commercials are there to interest us in their products, but I can admire a job well done.

The Chrysler/Detroit ad is intriguing. If I was a politician, I would be spending the next week analyzing it and determining how many people responded favorably.

[postulater]

23. Most football fans are just the opposite.

"I will admit, although I was deep enough into my book that I can honestly say I don't know who won, I did watch the commercials."

Most fans are into the game enough that they don't notice the commercials. (except for the GoDaddy and the Bud Lite ads)

[XanaDUer]

6. Lawrence O'Donnell thrilled me last night telling me how much

American taxpayers paid for this shit. I am sick and tired of my tax monies going to things I have zero interest in. Like sports teams.

[cleanhippie]

11. That is the "tea party" mentality.

"I am sick and tired of my tax monies going to things I have zero interest in."

Perhaps in THIS case, it may be seen as a waste of taxpayer money, but this IS how the system works. We do not get to pick and choose what we, as individuals, want our "taxes" spent on. But I understand your sentiments. Just be careful, as it sounds very much like a "tea party" slogan.

[XanaDUer]

12. BFD

I am sick of having my tax money go to things I have no interest in. I am thinking of a line item tax return - check here for wars and corporate welfare, or here for health and education.

[cleanhippie]

17. Good luck with that, then.

[Name removed]

27. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[cleanhippie]

29. Such a reasoned and enlightend post. Glad to know you have such a way with words.

Considering that I never insulted you, and actually agreed with you to begin with, I wonder why you chose THAT response. Seems pretty childish to me.

[postulater]

24. and NPR.

[cleanhippie]

25. You are opposed to public funding of Public Radio?

[postulater]

26. No, sorry to not elaborate.

There are many groups that receive government money. There are people who want to slash that funding who would likely slash NPR before they would cut money for the football owners.

Me? I prefer to have NPR.

[cleanhippie]

28. Got it, and agreed.

[Old and In the Way]

9. I watched the game, but purposely missed the 6 hour pre-game show.

I'm betting I wasn't the only person who did it. I think the overindulgent hype is getting worse by the year. It was a terrific game, but it just isn't worth the time investment to listen to the analysts make it out to some kind of mythical, existential moment. The NFL really should consider throttling back on the sideshow...I think it takes away from the game.

[Andy823]

14. So did I.

I don't watch football during the year, but once in awhile I do watch the Super Bowl, this was on of those years, but the pre game show, no way! The only reason I watched this time is I found out that Green Bay was publicly owned, not owned by some rich corporation or one rich billionaire! I was for Green Bay all he way!

As for tax dollars, they should NOT be used to support sports teams owned by big money! It's just plain wrong!

[Blue_Tires]

15. I haven't watched pregame/national anthem/coin toss/etc in at least 15 years

I haven't watched the halftime show since the 1980s...

[exboyfil]

16. I started watching right before the National Anthem

You did miss a memorable performance. As far as the game itself, I had my copy of Empires and Barbarians to read whenever there was any dead time in the game (after every play actually). I went upstairs to my bedroom for the halftime show to read in peace, and only returned right before the second half.

I did not watch a single commercial. My petty way to protest.

No tax dollars for sports teams ever.

[damntexdem]

18. And even the commercials were a flop, as well as disgusting.

I didn't watch the Stupid Bowl, but I had the TV on in the other room so I could run in to see the commercials. So I suffered through the horrid singing, because the zapper was in the other room, and I didn't feel like running in and muting. And then the commercials disgusted me. So early in the game, I turned off the tube.

But the worst thing was ... charging $200 for fans to stand in the parking lot and watch the game on a big screen -- standing in what was for us here in North Texas horrible cold.

[thelordofhell]

22. 31 million to reap at least 150 million in profit

to hopefully use to help their state budget

[Skittles]

30. omg seeing all those rich fucks in the metroplex

:puke: