My favorite thing about the Super Bowl is everything besides the game itself. The Super Bowl is anticipated to be watched by 95 million Americans. NBC will be broadcasting the Super Bowl for the first time since 1998, and because the Super Bowl is by far the best advertising venue on TV, NBC will, of course, be turning a profit. Thirty-second commercials are going for a record rate of nearly $3 million. Even in the midst of a recession, these ads still appear to be sound investments, as the Super Bowl is expected to record a Nielsen rating about double that of the Academy Awards.
Of course, Pittsburgh and Arizona aren't nearly the media markets that Boston and New York are, so it's possible, even likely, that this year's Super Bowl will have lower ratings than last year's. Even so, NBC not only has been able to sell commercials at its requested rates but has even rejected two potential advertisers. NBC refused a spot by Ashley Madison, a company promoting extramarital affairs, and another spot by the agency Cesario Migliozzi Inc., which planned to redistribute its 30-second spot to other advertisers for a lineup of shorter spots.
Tampa Bay, the host city, is one place where the recession will most definitely be felt. Due to a lack of sponsors, organizers canceled a golf tournament in Tampa scheduled for Super Bowl week. Moreover, Sports Illustrated and Playboy pulled out of their annual parties. The Super Bowl ought to attract around 100,000 visitors, but the amount of money they spend varies by city.
According to the official numbers, Detroit brought in around $120 million when it held the Super Bowl, while both Miami and Arizona generated between $450-500 million. These numbers are incredibly inflated, as the estimated revenue doesn't count displaced customers and probably contains a fair amount of boosterism. Comparably, Tampa businesses might bring up to $50 million in extra revenue thanks to the Super Bowl. Still, that's nothing to sneeze at.
Most of the money changing hands over the next couple of weeks will be between bookies and bettors. The state of Nevada expects to have about $100 million wagered on the game. There are some traditional bets like the spread and over/under (give me the Steelers favored by seven and over 47 total points). But those bets are boring. The real fun is in proposition bets. If you don't like prop bets, then there's something wrong with you, my friend. Vegas has set the over/under for Jennifer Hudson's anthem at 2:01. (Her standard anthem is between 1:58 and 2:01, so that's a tough call. Yes, this has been studied.) Will the Super Bowl MVP thank his teammates or God first? (Give me God at even money -- at least I know that's the direction Kurt Warner would go.) What color liquid will be dumped on the winning coach? (Transparent liquid put on a dominant performance last year, and it's the favorite this year.) What songs will Bruce Springsteen begin and end his halftime show with? (Hopefully "The Wrestler" pulls through at 6/1. My favorite movie of the year.) How many times will John Madden allude to food? If you like losing money in unconventional ways -- as I do -- then go nuts.
There are some other interesting Super Bowl tidbits. Tickets average around $4,000 on StubHub.com and currently range from $1,475 to a maximum of $254,554. Good thing that guy who paid for the luxury suite threw in that additional $554 at the end. He almost got took. The winning players' shares are worth 78 grand, while Super Bowl rings, which cost around $5,000 to produce, are appraised at five times that and could probably be sold on Ebay for five times more.
Right, and the Steelers and Cardinals will be playing some sort of competition on the field. Or something like that.
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Jeremy Greenhouse is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. He can be reached at Jeremy.Greenhouse@tufts.edu.
