As the need for entertainment has grown in this country, so has the National Football League’s (NFL) biggest stage: the Super Bowl. Many people across the world now hold holiday-like parties in celebration of such a super game, but nobody has enjoyed this growth more than the advertising and entertainment industries. That super game is the NFL Super Bowl.
It’s a real head-scratcher that in a country that claims it has fallen on hard economic times, can afford such a fiasco.
According to NBC, Americans spend $55 million on chicken wings for the Super Bowl, eat 4.4 million pizzas, 28 million pounds of potato chips and — the crème de la crème of this special game — 325.5 million gallons of alcohol are consumed. That is enough to fill 493 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Restaurants and bars generate significant revenue by advertising food and drink specials ahead of time and creating a good restaurant menu design for the game.
Retailers attract new customers with advertisements targeting Super Bowl viewers that want a new TV or furniture for the game.
According to a new survey by the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association, conducted by BIGresearch, the average consumer is expected to spend $59.33 on game-related merchandise, apparel and snacks, up from $52.63 last year.
Total Super Bowl spending is expected to reach $10.1 billion.
Advertisers are also feasting on their chances to run their ads for their vehicles, drinks, movies and the halftime show entertainment. This year, advertisements cost roughly $116,666 per second and up to $3.5 million for a 30-second spot, according to Jared Braverman, director of internet marketing and design at Titan List & Mailing Services, Inc. The total ad revenue from Super Bowl XLVI? $245 million. By the way, the Lombardi Trophy presented at the end of the game to the champion costs $50,000 and weights 7lbs. 22 oz. of Tiffany and Co. expensiveness.
Speaking of the Super Bowl, did anyone else catch the halftime show? I did, unfortunately. I also found it to be complete garbage. The Super Bowl used to feature great musical talent from the Rolling Stones, Ella Fitzgerald to Chubby Checker and college marching bands.
This year they spewed a conglomerate of horrible stew that anyone over the age of 20 could care less about. That’s right, LMFAO, Madonna, Nicki Minaj, M.I.A. and the guy that ate Cee Lo Green made my ears bleed during halftime. It was terrible and while parents headed for more booze and concessions, you could hear the screeching of teens loving the nonsense they called musical “talent.” People spent millions of dollars to produce that? When it was all said and done, 166.8 million people tuned in to watch making it the most watched program in human history.
As I’m sure my point has been gotten across, I just wanted to say that there is justice in the world after all. Congratulations to Super Bowl XLVI Champions the New York Giants, the least likely team according to Vegas odds to win it all with the worst record in NFL history at 9-7 during the regular season. I know it still stings local 49ers fans, but give due credit. They earned it, and there’s always next year. Look on the bright side, at least the Patriots didn’t win.
