Super Bowl stash

---

It’s that time again in the US when on a Sunday in February the world stands still… Or at least that is what Americans think!

Super Bowl Sunday is an American institution. This year’s game, Super Bowl XLVI, between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants will be a show stopper and will no doubt live up to its pre-game billing as one of the finest yet.

Pollsters are astonishingly suggesting that the audience for this game-day will be 173 million people as the league’s two form quarterbacks attempt to engineer victory. It will become the most watched television event in history, overcoming last year’s Super Bowl, which, in turn, surpassed the viewership for the M.A.S.H. season finale in 1983.

It doesn’t stop there. This event is a major shot in the economy arm of America. It is estimated that each viewer will spend US$64 on food, drink and team paraphernalia before the sterling silver Vince Lombardi Trophy is hoisted aloft by the victorious quarterback. Astoundingly, that means that some US$11 billion has the true potential to cascade into a stuttering and stressed economy, all for the sake of four hours of football on a Sunday afternoon.

If you also consider that US$3.5 million is the going rate for each 30-second commercial, and there will be approximately 60 of those tomorrow, then the impending financial picture becomes mind boggling. Chrysler, by the way, actually spent US$12 million in 2011 for a two-minute spot.

Super Sunday is a repeat of the 2008 Super Bowl when the Giants quarterback, Eli Manning, threw a touch down pass in the dying moments while expertly working the clock. Tom Brady is the Patriots' gunslinger and he is considered the poster boy of American Football. It helps of course that he is married to Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen.

The recipe for success for the American Football League is a very simple one. Firstly, it enjoys zealous weekly support. Some 100 million supporters are actively involved in the game every week and those interested parties keep coming back for more, round after round.

Secondly, of those fanatically supporting the game or a team, a surprising 48 per cent is female! That is an extraordinary split.

Thirdly, it is very professionally controlled and superbly run by the NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell. Last but certainly not least, never underestimate the fact that to follow a game of American Football is uncomplicated. Most sporting bodies can only dream of ticking those boxes.

So who do I think will win? I am rooting for the Giants after a chance encounter some years back provided me with the opportunity to meet and subsequently interview Giants superstar Eli Manning. He was remarkably humble, normal and massively impressive.

Go Giants!