As we get ready to turn our attention to Super Bowl XLV this Sunday, when the Pittsburgh Steelers battle the Green Bay Packers, no one can accuse the National Football League of not keeping pace with all the new technologies and social networking tools available to a growing Internet generation.
Just this week, for instance, the NFL announced they are rolling out an interactive event guide containing detailed information and 3D maps of North Texas, including a game day guide with a 3D map of Cowboy Stadium available at the iTunes App Store and Android Marketplace .
The official Super Bowl XLV Game Program will also be available at the Apple Store which in addition to chronicling the Packers and Steelers road to the Super Bowl, recaps and highlights past epic Super Bowl clashes.
In addition to the new apps, the NFL has teamed with Twitter and Visa as a way for fans keep on top of all the up to the minute chatter being generated by rabid fans from coast-to-coast.
And, of course, the latest Super Bowl news, injury updates, along with Super Bowl history and videos is available at the NFL’s official Super Bowl site.
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So as we finalize our Super Bowl Party plans, this might be a good time to catch up on some odds and ends, and feats and facts about Super Bowl Sunday.
• Super Bowl XLV will be carried nationally by FOX on more than 200 television stations throughout the United States, plus Bermuda and Guam.
• Super Bowl XLV will be distributed internationally by the NFL and NFL International to more than 185 countries with broadcasts in 30 different languages.
• $83,000 will go to each member of the winning team; $42,000 to each member of the losing team
• The Vince Lombardi Super Bowl trophy stands 20.75 inches tall, weighs 107.3 ounces, and is valued in excess of $25,000.
• To date, 3,421,667 have attended Super Bowl games. The largest crowd was 103,985 at Super Bowl XIV (1980), played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California
• The halftime entertainment for Super Bowl I (1967) was the Universities of Arizona and Michigan marching bands. Not until Super Bowl IV (1970) was an entertainer featured at halftime, when Carol Channing was booked.
• The use of Roman numerals to designate Super Bowls began with game V, won by the Baltimore Colts over the Dallas Cowboy, 16-13.
• Ticket prices for Super Bowl XLV range from $200 to $1200.
• According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the cheapest ticket to get inside the Cowboy Stadium costs about $2,000. Face value seat prices start at $600 and top out at $1,200.
• The Dallas Morning News is reporting that there are no tickets available to the general public for Super Bowl XLV. Some can still be purchased on the secondary market through local brokers or national sites like Stub Hub or Ticket Exchange. But those tickets can only be had at steep price. A recent check of Stub Hub, for example, showed tickets ranging from $2,200 to $39,000.
• As of Sunday, there were about 27 seats in the sections closest to the Steelers’ 50 yard line at Cowboy Stadium with prices ranging from $10,786 to $23,729. On the Packers’ side, there were about 12 seats going for $10,026 to $11,869.
• An estimated 92.1 percent of viewers tune into the Super Bowl for the game; 5.6 percent for the commercials, and 0.9 percent for the halftime show.
• Fox Sports is likely to pull in more than $200 million in television advertising for this year’s Super Bowl, with Pepsi forking over $3 million for a 30 second ad for its Pepsi Max line.
• A record number of nearly 5,000 press credentials have been issued to media from across the country and around the world.
• Approximately 600 crew members will help move the stage on and off the field for The Black Eyed Peas halftime performance.
• The average number to attend a Super Bowl party is 17.
• Of the 171 million people who will watch the game, nearly 34.9 million (15 percent) are planning to throw their own party, up about 10 percent from last year’s 31.6 million, and another 61.2 million (26 percent) plan to attend a party, up roughly 4 percent from the 58.8 million who said they would go to a party.
• The average US consumer is expected to spend $59.33 on game-related Super Bowl merchandise, apparel and snacks in 2011, up almost 13 percent from $52.63 last year, according to a survey by the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association.
• Three in 10 Americans who follow at least one sport (31 percent) say professional football is their favorite sport, while 17 percent say baseball, according a new Harris Poll.
• Due to the heightened interest in this year’s Super Bowl featuring two storied franchises, Super Bowl wagers at Las Vegas sports books may top $90 million for the first time in three years, according to Bloomberg News.
• On Super Bowl Sunday, it is estimated that American consumers will devour 30 million pounds of snacks, including 11.2 million pounds of potato chips and 8.2 million pounds of tortilla chips.
• Pizza will be served at an estimated 68 percent of Super Bowl parties.
• According to National Restaurant Association, approximately one in seven Americans (15 percent) order takeout or delivery from a restaurant on Super Bowl Sunday for gatherings at their house or someone else's house. Among younger adults (ages 18-34), that figure rises to nearly one-quarter (22 percent).
• Nearly 6 out of 10 people who order from restaurants for the Super Bowl prefer pizza; half order chicken wings, while one-fifth order subs or sandwiches.
• One in 20 Americans watches the game at a restaurant or bar, according to the National Restaurant Association.
• According to NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy, combined with an estimated 5,000 people in an outdoor plaza, attendance at the Super Bowl could reach 105, 000.
• Super Bowl XLV is expected to pump more than $600 million into the North Texas economy.
• With 700,000 visitors and almost 5,000 credentialed members of the media coming to Dallas for the Super Bowl, the economic activity is expected to generate $10 million in local tax revenue and an additional $36 million in state taxes.
• Some of the hot items on the menu at Cowboy Stadium on Super Bowl Sunday will be Bent Buckle” Texas chili served in a toasted sourdough bread bowl and topped with shredded cheese,; roasted jalapenos and cilantro sour cream; Cowboys Stadium house-smoked barbecue — hand-sliced brisket on a potato roll; a hot bloody Mary made from beef and tomato broth mixed with premium vodka; Cowboyrita — a large margarita served in a souvenir glass; Mexican hot chocolate — hot cocoa made with Mexican vanilla, cinnamon and Patron XO; and Lobel’s dry-aged strip steak sandwich topped with olive tapenade and horseradish sauce.
• According to the NFL, concessions prices on Super Bowl Sunday will be a little higher than during the regular season. It will cost fans $10 for a 16-ounce Miller Lite beer, compared to $8.50 at a regular season Cowboy game; $7 for a 32-ounce soda in a souvenir cup compared with $6 during the season; and $10 for a Southwest barbecue chicken sandwich, compared with $8.50 during the season.
• Only two players, Gene Upshaw and Jerry Rice, have played in Super Bowls in three different decades.
• In 2005, Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers (23 years, 340 days) became the youngest quarterback to win a Super Bowl.
• The most points scored during a Super Bowl was 55 by the San Francisco 49ers over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXIV (1990). The fewest were by the Miami Dolphins, who managed only three points in Super Bowl VI (1972) against the Dallas Cowboys.
• 47 players have won Super Bowls with more than one team.
• 22 coaches have won Super Bowls with more than one team.
• 16 have won Super Bowls both as a player and coach.
• South Florida has hosted the most Super Bowls at 10 followed by New Orleans with nine.
-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
February 1, 2011
Source: The National Football League; Retail Advertising and Marketing Association’s 2011 Super Bowl Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey
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