If you happen to believe that members of the winning team in Super Bowl 50 will dump green Gatorade over their coach’s head, get to Vegas right now and throw down a few bucks. You’ll get 6-1 odds. The blue stuff is running at 5-2.
As ridiculous as placing that bet may sound, it is almost sane compared to the hysterical avalanche of promotional efforts leading up to Sunday’s kickoff. Things have been relatively sane the past week or so, but as the game approaches, fans will be overwhelmed by media coverage that makes the political landscape seem reasonable.
This is the problem we face as an ever-expanding collection of NFL propaganda partners vies for our attention ahead of American sports’ biggest spectacle. With little news to report, considerable time and space to fill, and a plethora of outlets competing for crumbs, the by-product of the week leading up to the Super Bowl is largely promotional content. Of course, the NFL loves it, since it doesn’t have to pay a dime for the chance to publicize its product. In a bizarre twist, many of the entities providing the marketing assistance are actually coughing up huge money for the privilege of advancing the NFL brand.
In a way, it makes sense that the media will froth at the chance to be associated with the Super Bowl. Last year, a record 114.5 million people watched the Patriots overcome Seattle, and Vegas has set the over-under on viewership this year at 116.5 mil. It wouldn’t be unwise to take the over. With more than a third of America – and tens of millions worldwide – ready to devote three hours or so to a football game, it would be foolish for any media not to join in.
The problem comes with the content produced during the frenzied days before the game. How much of it is real journalism, and how much is merely content designed to capitalize on a phenomenon and attract eyes and ears? Softball features, music videos described as reports, and flat-out commercials dominate the landscape, as outlets vie for attention. Even the most casual fan can’t escape the flood of pap.
It’s most disturbing that this seems to be standard operating procedure for every sporting event of import these days. We have come to expect that the network broadcasting the contest will spend days – and weeks – hyping its programming. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Jethro Gibbs carrying around a football and wearing eye black for this week’s entire NCIS episode on CBS. ESPN established the “gold” standard for pre-game excess with its efforts to direct viewers to the College Football Playoff, a tactic that ultimately failed.
What makes the Super Bowl worse is that every other media outlet in the world tries to profit from the game. The NFL’s other propaganda partners – Fox, NBC, ESPN – will certainly join in, the better to make sure the league realizes that they continue to pledge their fealty. But everybody else wants a piece, too, even though the league is slowly cutting off media access to players and coaches. Monday’s media day featured just 10 members of each team and was rebranded as “Super Bowl Opening Night,” the better to make it seem like more of a show and less of a media event. Mission accomplished.
Although the craziness factor was lower than usual, given the smaller number of players involved, the goal of presenting a nicely packaged event was reached. From here, access will be extremely limited, and the media will be forced to manufacture content in order to remain in the Super arena throughout the rest of the week.
Of course, there will be some good work done by enterprising reporters who discover that a backup tight end is an investment counselor during the off-season or that the long-snapper once saved a busload of nuns from certain disaster. Some people will even cover the game itself, breaking down the teams’ various strengths and weaknesses and trying to figure out the keys to victory. For that, fans should be happy. Not that it will be all that easy to find amidst the torrent of other silliness.
One of the worst things about this process is that fans don’t all look forward to kickoff because they can’t wait to see who wins the game. For many, 6:30 Eastern Sunday marks an end to the foolish spectacle that dominates the game and turns the media into marketing partners with the NFL. It’s bad enough that business relationships between broadcast and print outlets have sullied the content of coverage on a regular basis.
The Super Bowl jams it into our faces with impunity and forces journalists to recognize that our profession is becoming less and less about finding and reporting the story and more about attracting customers. Partnering with the biggest league and promoting its biggest game are the best ways to do that.
