It's been a low-key week at the Super Bowl, the combination of a struggling economy that has made ticket prices and airline fares seem out of reach and a matchup that excites only fans in Pittsburgh and Phoenix, a letdown after last year's dream game between the Giants and Patriots forced fans everywhere to pay attention.
But even more than the matchup, the economic crisis has turned this into a very different Super Bowl. Usually the Super Bowl city gets overrun by party animals by Thursday at the latest, but it's been relatively quiet here so far.
The NFL this year increased the price of the premium seats, creating a $1,000 ticket for the first time. The other 53,000 seats at Raymond James Stadium were originally priced at $800 each, but in the fall, Roger Goodell lowered the price of 1,000 of those seats to $500. The Steelers and Cardinals were each allocated 500 of those seats for their fans.
NFL teams have routinely been laying off employees for the last month or so. But there is a contradiction here, as well, that makes you wonder if the economy is really affecting these teams.
The Broncos fired Mike Shanahan even though he is owed $20 million on the last three years of contract. The Bucs fired Jon Gruden and GM Bruce Allen, despite their having $20 million combined left on the last three years of contracts they signed only last year.
Just seven years ago, the Bucs gave up two first-round and two second-round picks and $8 million to the Raiders to get Gruden. But the Broncos and Bucs wanted to dump their Super Bowl-winning coaches so badly - they each hired unproven thirtysomething assistants to replace them - they were willing to eat the contracts and be on the hook for an awful lot of cash.
Goodell announced in December that the league was cutting its work force by 10-15% and was offering buyouts to employees who have been working there at least five years. The NFL wants to cut 150 of its 1,100 jobs, and if enough people don't take the buyout by the end of next week, there will be layoffs.
"I've been very clear that we're not immune to what's going on out in the economy," Goodell said at his annual Super Bowl news conference Friday. "There's a tremendous amount of uncertainty; uncertainty clearly breeds fear.
"And I've said before, it's in three buckets for us: First, what's happening for our business partners? They're all going through difficult times. Some have, obviously for us, significant financial commitments and they're being stretched. We hear from them every day, and it's important to us how we manage through that. Clearly our fans, which is the most important thing. For people who've lost their jobs, can they continue to afford to come to an NFL game, or to any other event? The good news for us is that we have a tremendous product. People want to continue to be associated with that. People want to continue to be involved with the game and get emotionally involved with the game, and I think that's to the benefit of the NFL."
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But even more than the matchup, the economic crisis has turned this into a very different Super Bowl. Usually the Super Bowl city gets overrun by party animals by Thursday at the latest, but it's been relatively quiet here so far.
The NFL this year increased the price of the premium seats, creating a $1,000 ticket for the first time. The other 53,000 seats at Raymond James Stadium were originally priced at $800 each, but in the fall, Roger Goodell lowered the price of 1,000 of those seats to $500. The Steelers and Cardinals were each allocated 500 of those seats for their fans.
NFL teams have routinely been laying off employees for the last month or so. But there is a contradiction here, as well, that makes you wonder if the economy is really affecting these teams.
The Broncos fired Mike Shanahan even though he is owed $20 million on the last three years of contract. The Bucs fired Jon Gruden and GM Bruce Allen, despite their having $20 million combined left on the last three years of contracts they signed only last year.
Just seven years ago, the Bucs gave up two first-round and two second-round picks and $8 million to the Raiders to get Gruden. But the Broncos and Bucs wanted to dump their Super Bowl-winning coaches so badly - they each hired unproven thirtysomething assistants to replace them - they were willing to eat the contracts and be on the hook for an awful lot of cash.
Goodell announced in December that the league was cutting its work force by 10-15% and was offering buyouts to employees who have been working there at least five years. The NFL wants to cut 150 of its 1,100 jobs, and if enough people don't take the buyout by the end of next week, there will be layoffs.
"I've been very clear that we're not immune to what's going on out in the economy," Goodell said at his annual Super Bowl news conference Friday. "There's a tremendous amount of uncertainty; uncertainty clearly breeds fear.
"And I've said before, it's in three buckets for us: First, what's happening for our business partners? They're all going through difficult times. Some have, obviously for us, significant financial commitments and they're being stretched. We hear from them every day, and it's important to us how we manage through that. Clearly our fans, which is the most important thing. For people who've lost their jobs, can they continue to afford to come to an NFL game, or to any other event? The good news for us is that we have a tremendous product. People want to continue to be associated with that. People want to continue to be involved with the game and get emotionally involved with the game, and I think that's to the benefit of the NFL."
More Here