Root: Super Bowl Would Have Been Nothing Without Gamblers
After days of anticipation for the NFL’s grandest and greatest event of the year, the Super Bowl (or as it is called in Vegas, “The Game”) was ready, set and bet by millions of fans across the nation. The best two teams were in the spotlight — with a matchup featuring the best offense and best defense to ever face off on a field in NFL history. Then the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks took the field.
But is that really why people watch “The Game?” Sorry Commissioner Goodell, but your teams are not the main course. The betting is what people tune in for. Betting made the Super Bowl the world’s biggest sporting event. Betting sells the commercials. Betting keep the viewers tuned in until the bitter end. Betting made this the most-watched TV show in the history of America.
How much was bet? For the first time in history the legal betting in Vegas topped $100 million. Some thought it might get to $101 million. Instead, it smashed through the record books at $119 million. The profit for Vegas sports books was a staggering $19.6 million — an all-time record by a mile.
But across the country experts report that over $10 billion was wagered. That’s $10 billion — with a b. On one day, on one game. That’s about $100 million bet per PLAY!
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If you’re not a gambler, you probably don’t realize there is a game within the game being played.
With no snow and super weather for “The Game,” the first play from scrimmage was a WHAT? A safety that paid +160 for all wagers in Las Vegas (meaning $160 for every $100 wager). Now the Super Bowl was officially started. Gamblers were cheering at what was one of the more exciting beginnings to “The Game.” It also set up a proposition bet of the Seahawks to “score first and win the game” at 5/2 odds. Additionally, that safety made another proposition bet a winner for those who wagered that Seattle would score before they punted at +150. That little ole safety had many gamblers going crazy.
But the most excited viewers were the ones that plunked down a wager that the first score of the game would be a safety. Not a touchdown or field goal, but a safety that paid 60 to 1. In the first 12 seconds, that two-point safety made this the most interesting start because of proposition bets.
So my question to anybody is this: With the score 22-0 at halftime, and 29-0 only a few seconds into the third quarter, how many people began to switch the TV stations? How many “surfed” the channels looking for something of relevance? I didn’t because I had many proposition bets still going. But I guarantee that there was a tremendous drop in viewers for the third quarter.
The “ad men” of Madison Avenue were ready to jump off the roof of their fancy mansions in Greenwich, Conn. The CEOs of companies that ponied up $4 million for a 60-second TV ad were throwing up at this point. Late in the third quarter, was there still an audience for “The Game?” With the score 36-0 there would not have been anyone left (except in Seattle, but who cares about Seattle?), except for the billions of dollars of bets still undecided across America.
That’s right, sports gamblers saved the day for the NFL and Madison Avenue.
If there were tens of millions of viewers still watching the entire fourth quarter, it was because of one thing: Super Bowl wagers were still in play.
The over/under became very interesting after the Broncos made the score 36-8, as the total was set at 47 and very much in doubt with 8 minutes left. The last score of the game proposition was heavily bet, so that kept viewers on the edge of their seats. Gross passing and rushing yardage was still in the air. The recommended passing total for Wilson was bet between 201-220. He passed for 206 yards and it paid 6/1.
The final scoring drive made a huge difference whether it was a pass (11/4), a run (6/1), a field goal (4/1), a defensive TD (20/1), or that same nemesis that began “The Game,” a safety (50/1).
The point is that tens of millions of viewers were still watching the game until the bitter end because of sports gambling.
Sports gambling drives TV ratings for sports. There is no betting on women’s volleyball or field hockey or softball, so there are no ratings either. Few watch NHL, or NBA or even baseball compared to football. That’s because those aren’t betting sports like football.
That’s why football ratings are king in the annals of television history. That’s why all the highest-rated TV shows of the year are football games. That’s why the Super Bowl is now the most-watched TV show in U.S. history. Few viewers watch sports, let alone the entire game, without a wager on the outcome.
Now add in the disaster of a blowout, like this year’s Seattle smashing of Denver 43-8. Why would anyone stay tuned for the $4 million fourth-quarter ads? Better thank Vegas.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell owes every gambler a drink, a lunch, or a thank you. We’re the only reason this lousy game was still worth watching during the entire second half. Since you won’t have the guts to thank us, Mr. Goodell, I’ll just take it upon myself, on behalf of tens of millions of gamblers, who kept your ratings up to say the following…. ”You’re welcome.”
When Goodell presented the Lombardi Trophy to the Seahawks, he should have congratulated Seattle and Las Vegas all in the same sentence. After all, in the final hour of the broadcast, the revenues from the television commercials paid the NFL about $48 million. That’s nothing to laugh at.
So I guess the real slogan of Vegas should be, “What happens in Vegas, pays the bills at NFL headquarters in New York.”
Wayne Allyn Root is a Libertarian-conservative media commentator. He is a former Libertarian vice presidential nominee and appears on Fox News. Root is the author of “The Ultimate Obama Survival Guide: How to Survive, Thrive and Prosper During Obamageddon .” Follow Root on Twitter @WayneRoot .
