The 86-year-old league's popularity has never been greater. In the past 20 years, football has sharply widened its lead over baseball as America's favorite professional sport, according to a Harris Poll in December. Fans choose football over baseball, basketball and auto racing combined, the poll found.
Now the NFL is trying to take that popularity, epitomized by the once-a-year phenomenon of the Super Bowl, and extend its dominance through cable TV, the Internet and mobile devices such as cell phones and satellite radio.
Last week, executives decided the NFL would broadcast a package of eight Thursday and Saturday games next season on the league's two-year-old cable TV venture, the NFL Network, rather than sell the rights to a traditional broadcaster. By keeping the games in-house, the NFL will collect the handsome advertising fees and control all aspects of the broadcasts.
Fans won't have to pay to see their home teams in the Thursday and Saturday matchups; games shown on the NFL Network will also be broadcast free on local television. The league will hire announcers and production crews and promises that the coverage will be enhanced by the addition of exclusive NFL film and online resources. The arrangement puts creative control in the NFL's hands, providing an opportunity for the league to freely manage its image. . . .
No single game better illustrates the NFL's broadcasting magic than the Super Bowl. About 90 million people in the United States are expected to settle in front of the TV for today's battle between the Seattle Seahawks and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Advertisers are paying a record $2.5 million for a 30-second spot.
Such monetary aggression is the American way. I have no major objections. Although self-interest is always a problem (it is the root of every sin), every action in life requires at least a little bit of self-interest--going to work Monday morning, writing this blog, investing money in a mutual fund, eating. And even when the self-interest achieves obnoxious levels (as it has with the NFL and its Super Bowl), a lot of good things come from it, from local fellowship to a common cultural language that binds the people together.
No, I don't like all the glitz and glamor and marketing and money, and I wish they'd just play the damn game. I hate the half-time show, and there's a good chance I'll just go to bed instead of waiting for it to end and watching the second half.
But still, I like the Super Bowl and am grateful today is the day.
Bonus coverage: Super Bowl Trivia Game.
