| The Adequate Bowl |
3 February 2003
|
Tampa Beats Oakland, NFL Inc. Wins
American football lacks the camaraderie of rubgy, the true ruggedness of Aussie rules football, and the global standing of soccer (what the rest of the world means by "football"), but it has all of them beat when it comes to marketing. But the Super Bowl, the league's championship, has become polluted by the marketing and money-go-round that the final match has become. The true football fan doesn't much care, so long as the outcome is pleasing, and perhaps if the game is close. But the National Football League is creating a problem for itself with the side-shows it has established.
First and foremost are the advertisements. The most expensive airtime in the world is during the Super Bowl, and as amusing as the Budweiser ads were, the product is still watery and undrinkable except at the coldest of temperatures. When advertisers finally realize that their job is to get people to buy the product rather than to entertain, the revenues will plummet.
Next is the genuinely dreadful halftime show. Shania Twain and Sting both have their fans but having them on the same bill only creates an artistic nausea that deliberately bland programming can create. Such cross-overs can work -- e.g. Johnny Cash's disturbing and brilliant new video of a Nine Inch Nails tune, but in seeking to please the broadest musical tastes, the halftime performances are dull material by has-beens.
Finally, the pre-game hype that ran only a week this year. Cutting out the second week of build-up may have denied the players a chance to recover from the previous games, but it reduced the inane questions, speculations and non-news events some. The problem is the league can't cut it any further.
As a test, the league should ask viewers in May who performed at halftime, what the best and worst commercials were, and what the score was. Most people won't be able to answer the last one, and that will give them an idea of how important the game really is.