Super Bowl LVIII is in the history books. Analyses have begun on what we saw, or thought we saw. The largely undisputed fact is that the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in overtime. I say “largely” because some 49ers fans thought they were cheated. Yet we know cheating is prohibited. But is it?
Opponents read lips to determine what the other coach is saying, which is why a coach holds his play card in front of his mouth. A team lines up like it is going to pass the football, but instead executes a running play. In the broadest sense, such efforts involve tricks or deception, but they are not dishonest, violating the rules of the game. On the other hand, when we consider the price of a football, there is a slippery path to the end zone marked by corporate profit.
You may remember family football games with brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles. There were unspoken rules; you never chop-blocked your aunt. Afterwards, everybody gave their version of the highlights. Professional football had similar family origins, but has now grown into a multi-billion-dollar organization that sells an illusion of family. Like Alice in Wonderland, it gets “curiouser and curiouser” the closer you look.
NFL Super Bowl tickets sold for $9,000 – $12,000, beyond the range of the average worker or retiree. A hot dog, beer, and popcorn cost $45, but you could keep the souvenir popcorn box. You could spend $60 on a bowl of nachos that included pieces of lobster and steak.
NFL teams are owned by corporations; players are employees. The winning Chiefs players each received a bonus check of $164,000; the losing 49ers were given $89,000. The corporate bottom line, though, is much larger, and curiouser.
CBS pays the NFL $2.1 billion a year to broadcast games, including three Super Bowls. Revenue from 2024 Super Bowl ads put $600 million in the NFL piggy bank. To pay for their $7-million ads, Doritos would have had to sell about 540,000 party-sized bags of chips, and Verizon would have needed 26,000 customers to buy new phones. Of course, the ads were seen by 113 million people, making the cost only 6-cents per viewer.
Most people, like me, stayed home and watched the game on TV, eating nacho dip at supermarket prices. It was not, however, like being in the stadium. Digital TV has 23-76 second delays in sending images, something to do with signal processing. And most timeouts cut away to ads. Three days later, the victory parade in Kansas City was marred by what the NY Times called “A game, a parade, a shooting: The story of America in Three Acts” 1.
I believe it is in our God-given nature to desire family and community, a place where we feel like we belong, and where we are secure. While I have written this devotional from the unhealthy perspective of love of money (1Timothy 6:10), we cannot ignore God’s rules and expect Him to be pleased with anyone who would chop-block their aunt. Nor those who become obsessed with the high price of footballs.
Nomads2 