Thursday, February 9, 2012

Super Bloat


The 2012 Super Bowl is now a week behind us. I'm sure you probably joined  the most-watched event in the year. The game is full of interesting statistics.  We know that due to the worldwide volume of viewers, the price for commercials during the game is astronomical.  While it is a big day for players and fans, it's the biggest day for advertisers. A 30-second spot during the game cost around $3.5 million dollars and according to NBC and there is usually 45 minutes of advertising in the 60 minute game. The Super Bowl is the biggest live event of the year with a U.S. record of 112 million viewers tuning in. This is more people than voted in the last presidential election.  There were more than 68,000 tickets sold to the live event at an average ticket cost of $3984. There are also humongous statistics about the number of wings eaten, guacamole dipped and burgers devoured. There are over 2.9 million HD televisions sold by electronic retailers leading up to Super Bowl week.  Each player on the winning team receives a ring worth $37,000.   
Source :  Matt Simon of BRBleacher Report January 26, 2012
So, why is this an event of such exponential excess?  What if…
·         The number of people who attend or watch the game would contribute one game-time hour to mentor and tutor students who struggle in school?
·         The amount of money spent on one commercial could be given to impact the world hunger crisis
·         The amount spent on personal consumption at a party could be given to feed the malnourished in our own US metropolitan cities.
·         The revenue given by these companies to gain exposure could be used to support worthy efforts to improve struggling school districts or build homes to redevelop our cities

So much to-do is made over one sporting event. The day after it will have no lasting impact?  Do you remember who played in last year’s game?  Can you name the winning teams from the past five games?  So I wonder:  Are we investing in things that really matter?  What are things of significance that we can individually and personally improve through leveraging our resources of time and money by investing in lasting or life-impacting experiences? 

You may read this and say, “Yea, but…” or “You really don’t get it…” – you are right – I don’t.


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