Super Business Bowl
Despite the fact that some people thought that the New Orleans Saints being in the Super Bowl would be a great Cinderella story, the Bears winning yesterday and the Colts beating the Patriots is the much better business matchup.
Chicago has more disposable income thanks to being a bigger market than New Orleans, including the Fortune 500 companies that reside in the Windy City. And I just get a sense that, with three wins in five years, all the Patriots fans who wanted to come to the Super Bowl to see their team get a win have had their chance.
Bears-Colts is the perfect storm. For the first time ever, the Super Bowl handle in Vegas will go over $100 million. (And I wonder how all the recent online stuff will push the Vegas handle even higher.) This matchup also will mean that, for the first time ever, a ticket right before game time will cost you $3,000. And Bears-Colts will mean that the Dow will go up this year.
For those of you who somehow haven’t heard this one -- it’s mentioned every year at this time -- if an old NFL team wins the Super Bowl, the Dow gains on the year. If a team from the American Football League wins, the Dow falls. The Super Bowl Indicator has been right some 78% of the time. Since the Colts and the Bears are both old NFL teams, that means the Dow is likely to go up this year.
And while we’re talking about business, can I go a little conspiracy theory on the NFL? How about that Super Bowl XLI logo? Looks quite “Bears-y” to me!
He’s The Manning!
I have to say that I’m quite impressed with Peyton Manning in commercials. When he first became such a hot commodity in corporate America, I admit I was quite confused. Sure he was ripping it up on the field, but he was kind of a dud off of it. Someone who didn’t exactly command your attention, get you to buy a product. Well, I think things have changed. Why? It’s not because Manning got tremendous acting lessons. Things changed because he was put in commercials with great copy, beginning with the MasterCard “Cut That Meat” spot. There’s a polling company called E-Poll and I recently saw their stats on Brady vs. Manning. 20% saw Manning as a sincere person versus 15% for Brady. That counts for a lot. It should be interesting to see what Sony, DirecTV, MasterCard, (Adidas-owned) Reebok and (PepsiCo unit) Gatorade do to capitalize on Manning in Super Bowl XLI.
Super Bowl Hustle
Some of the Chicago Bears from the 1985-86 season cashed in on the 20th anniversary celebration last year, but we’re told they didn’t do as well as they could have. Here’s to betting that Ditka, the Fridge, McMahon and Singletary are switching around their schedules so that they can make some dough down in Miami.
Odds & Ends
Is it physically possible for Rafael Nadal to wear any more Nike swooshes? In his Australian Open match against Andy Murray, I counted nine swooshes: headband (1), shirt (1), wristbands (2), shoes (2), shorts (1), and socks (2)… For those of you who are really serious about your fantasy sports and have gotten into some legal trouble, there’s now a perfect solution. Just go to www.SportsJudge.com. This sports law professor named Marc Edelman is there to resolve all your fantasy disputes.
Questions? Comments? SportsBiz@cnbc.com
