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    Taxpayers Lose if Super Bowl Exported

    By GWEN KNAPP,
    AOL
    Posted: 2007-10-19 10:31:18
    Filed Under: NFL
    Sports Commentary

    Maybe we should have seen what was coming 14 years ago, when Princess Diana turned up at an amusement park wearing a Philadelphia Eagles jacket. Things should have been even clearer after the Sydney Olympics, where a gathering of Cathy Freeman's aboriginal fans included a woman in a Raiders jersey.


    The NFL is undeniably a global brand. We get that. Every year, we're reminded that the Super Bowl audience stretches around the world.

    But Roger Goodell reached even further this week, going way out of bounds when he mused about putting the big game in London someday. The commissioner's huge vision for the league's future must be blunting his memory. He seems to have forgotten that American taxpayers ponied up $115 million to repair the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina.

    The people of New Orleans must be thrilled to hear that the NFL wants to send the Super Bowl and its tourism benefits overseas. How do you say "Blimey" in a Cajun accent?

    Goodell also seems to have blanked on all of the other cities that delivered subsidies to create state-of-the-art stadiums for his teams. There's more than $600 million of public money entombed in the walls of Houston's Reliant Stadium and Seattle's Qwest Field. Chicago's Soldier Field was desecrated with the help of $400 million in subsidies; the stadium was stripped of its historic landmark status after renovations planted what appears to be a flying saucer in the middle of this sports cathedral.

    If Goodell were an NFL newcomer, a hot shot hired after turning another entertainment company into a winner, his idea might not be so outrageous. He wouldn't fully understand the extortion games that NFL teams have been playing with municipalities the last dozen years. But Goodell joined the league as an intern 25 years ago. When he became commissioner in 2006, he moved up from chief operating officer, where his job description specifically included stadium development. His fingerprints are all over the mortar and concrete.

    His desire to expand the NFL empire makes sense, but isn't it enough that Wembley Stadium will be host to a game between the Giants and Dolphins on Oct. 28 and that the BBC will now televise the Super Bowl?

    If Goodell doesn't see how tacky it would be to export the league's Big Revenue Machine, he either forgot all the times that the league used the Super Bowl as bait for its rebuilding boom or he knows the spiel about its economic benefits is a gross overstatement. Either way, the people of Kansas City should take a bow for rejecting a sales-tax measure that would have put a roof over Arrowhead Stadium and a Super Bowl in their town.

    The towns that have already paid the ransom will have to keep their complaints to themselves, lest the commissioner decides to knock them below Paris, Barcelona, Milan and Dubrovnik in the Super Bowl rotation.

    But don't expect fans of the two finalists to stay quiet. Even on domestic soil, the Super Bowl is a luxury event, virtually unaffordable for middle-class folk unwilling to sell a kidney on the black market. An overseas Super Bowl, especially at current exchange rates, would close the door completely. A weekend in a two-star British hotel costs more than the average mortgage payment in Wisconsin. A single trip on the Tube costs $8.16, or four times a ride on the New York subway.

    Goodell could eliminate this problem by escalating ticket prices so that location doesn't matter. By the time the Super Bowl arrived in London, the costs would be at a "comp the Queen so she doesn't have to hock the crown jewels" stage, and the average fan wouldn't dream of anything but a wide-screen TV and the perfect bean dip.

    All in all, though, the move isn't worth the trouble. The game would have to start at 11 p.m. in London to keep its usual time slot in the States. The league might need to ask players to curb public displays of faith, out of respect for England's deeply secular culture. And there's always a chance that Mike Ditka will steal from Michael Moore's playbook and stage a "Sicko" sequel, starring the neglected and disabled retirees Ditka started championing at this year's Super Bowl. He could take them to the National Health Service and ask for treatment while their wealthy heirs cavort at Wembley.

    In the end, that could be a reasonable tradeoff. Outsource the best and worst of American football. U.S. taxpayers should endorse the deal, since they're currently in line to pick up the tab when the retirees go on Medicare.

    It's possible for the taxpayers to have it all, to demand that the Super Bowl stay here and that the NFL and the players union take care of their own. Congress has started to review the disability issue, and a push by constituents could yield some real action.

    But Americans have already shown that when the NFL expects something, they can't say no. It's a dysfunctional relationship, and now the league wants to see other people. Sounds like a royal marriage.

    Gwen Knapp is a sports columnist at the San Francisco Chronicle.

    2008 AOL LLC. All Rights Reserved.
    2007-10-18 16:07:32
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    120 comments

    marriedinsf 09:05:33 PM Dec 29 2007

    Report This!

    YOU PEOPLE WHEN ARE GOING TO UNDERSTAND THAT NO ONE,NO ONE ELSE REALLY CARE ABOUT AMERICAN FOOTBALL . YOU KNOW WHY BECAUSE THERE IS NOTHING GREATER THEN SOCCER, YOU GO ANYWHERE ARROUND THE WORLD AND SOCCER IS THE GREATER THING ON EARTH, SOCCER PLAYERS ARE CONSIDERED GODS IN THE MOST REMOTE COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD

    lalonde1 09:48:10 PM Dec 27 2007

    Report This!

    There you go! Another Red Neck NASCAR fan sticking his nose in it!

    gwrider4 09:58:42 AM Dec 24 2007

    Report This!

    It's just like NASCAR going to Mexico and Canada, it is just about the money extorted from a new set of fans. Fans are just an after thought-right after the cash counting. Super Bowl outside of USA? If the NFL sees the need to export, they can stay exported.

    odewriter 05:58:40 AM Dec 20 2007

    Report This!

    I'm a 20-year season ticket holder and have attended two of the Super Bowls the Bills were in. Trust me, it's expensive enough to go when the game's in Atlanta or Los Angeles ... To put it in another country - on another continent - is yet another way to screw the people who actually go to the games. Horrible idea.

    odewriter 05:56:23 AM Dec 20 2007

    Report This!

    I'm a 20-yar season ticket holder and have attended two of the Super Bowls the Bills were in. Trust me, it's expensive enough to go when the game's in Atlanta or Los Angeles ... Putting it in another country is yet another way to screw the fans who actually go to te games. Horrible idea.

    robken61 03:10:34 PM Dec 17 2007

    Report This!

    If they send it to Europe then the American public should boycott the NFL. In most cities around this country the taxpayer funds the stadiums that are being built and if they don't pay they threaten to leave screw them and let them leave I don't see L.A. losing any sleep about not having a football team.

    robken61 03:10:31 PM Dec 17 2007

    Report This!

    If they send it to Europe then the American public should boycott the NFL. In most cities around this country the taxpayer funds the stadiums that are being built and if they don't pay they threaten to leave screw them and let them leave I don't see L.A. losing any sleep about not having a football team.

    junev32 10:08:05 AM Dec 14 2007

    Report This!

    Enough of our $$ have been sent abroad. Will we have nothing left American to take pride in!!!!!!!!!!

    junev32 10:08:03 AM Dec 14 2007

    Report This!

    Enough of our $$ have been sent abroad. Will we have nothing left American to take pride in!!!!!!!!!!

    junev32 10:07:59 AM Dec 14 2007

    Report This!

    Enough of our $$ have been sent abroad. Will we have nothing left American to take pride in!!!!!!!!!!

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