Money, Not Terrorism, Motivating the NFL
Feb. 1, 2007 — -- Each fall in the United States, in the early hours of Sunday morning, devoted groups more dependable than the U.S. Postal Service gather in parking lots outside NFL stadiums to fire up their grills and ice down their coolers, embarking on the great American tradition of tailgating.
Whether grilling brats in Green Bay or mahi-mahi in Miami, tailgaters have become part of the fabric of the NFL.
When I worked for the Washington Redskins in 2000, I was shocked to see RVs and buses lined up waiting to get into the parking lots that opened four hours before kickoff.
Up until just before the game, there were often as many people in the parking lot as there were in the stadium. Those tailgaters formed the backbone of one of the strongest fan bases in the league.
Despite my appreciation for their commitment to the team, their dedication to their craft presented quite a challenge to me, as part of my job was to run game-day merchandise sales, and those people out in the parking lot were not buying T-shirts and hats.
The NFL seems to have cracked this problem: It has have banned tailgating in the Dolphin Stadium parking lots and pushed back the security perimeter to prohibit grills and coolers within a one-mile radius of the stadium.
All of this is part of the enhanced security precautions taken since the Sept. 11 attacks, after which the NFL notes it first acted to curb tailgating at the Super Bowl.
There is no doubt that terrorism remains a real and serious threat to America and Americans. The Super Bowl is ranked as a Level 1 national security event, right behind presidential inaugurations.
Heightened security measures are necessary and appropriate, and pushing back the security perimeter has some logical appeal.
But if the Department of Homeland Security, the Secret Service, the FBI, and the Florida and Miami police can adequately secure the vast expanse inside the cordon, they could probably fence off some portion of that space to accommodate the tailgaters.
Actions such as this one rings of "crying wolf," and I fear it undermines public support for the real and deadly serious mission of securing the homeland from attack.
Ken Gude is the associate director of the International Rights and Responsibilities Team at the Center for American Progress and was formerly the assistant director of retail operations at the Washington Redskins
Of course, without those pesky hibachis, the NFL has room for the 850,000-square-foot "Home Depot NFL Experience" and high-dollar corporate tents. And now we have struck at the real reason for pushing out the tailgaters: money.
We are long past the time when we can wax nostalgic about the Super Bowl being just about a football game. When tickets can go for $4,000 a piece, it better be.
Now it is media days and corporate sponsorships, half-time shows and 30-second ads. It is spectacle, not sport, celebrating America's wealth, not America's game.
Let's not get overly romantic about the tailgaters, however, and herein lies the rub for the NFL: Tailgating is big business.
The American Tailgating Association estimates that there are 50 million tailgaters in North America who can spend up to $500 a year on tailgating gear alone.
Johnsonville, whose sausages and brats are favorites among many tailgaters, has even built a 65-foot mobile "Big Taste Grill" pulled by a semi that can cook 2,500 brats an hour. The NFL is crazy to marginalize a customer base as dedicated as this one.
Americans love football, and tailgaters love their teams. The NFL counted on that devotion as the television and corporate money flooded in and transformed the sport into a massive business enterprise.
As these sporting events turn more and more into corporate events, however, the connection between the fans and the game gets ever weaker, and the foundation for that business erodes. Ask yourself, what are you likely to remember most about this year's Super Bowl, that critical fourth-quarter play or the funniest ad?
Ken Gude is the associate director of the International Rights and Responsibilities Team at the Center for American Progress and was formerly the assistant director of retail operations at the Washington Redskins