John Doe

Mrs. Burrows
Intro to Composition 1
4 May 2016
The Biggest Game of the Year
The last game of the professional football season is known as the Super Bowl.
This event is a competition of two teams, one from each conference of the National Football
League (NFL). One team from the American Football Conference (AFC), and the other from the
National Football Conference (NFC). Each conference is made up of sixteen teams split into four
smaller divisions. Throughout the season, teams must compete and do well in their respected
divisions and other teams they play. At the end of the regular season a tournament bracket,
known as the playoffs, is set up with the top six teams of each conference competing for the
chance to get to the big game. Once the NFC and AFC Champions are crowned, they will be
able to compete on the biggest stage in American sports.
This year will mark the fiftieth Super Bowl in the history of the NFL. Many different teams have
won over the years. The team with the most Super Bowl wins is the Pittsburgh Steelers with six.
However, as many as thirteen teams have yet to claim a title. Some teams, including the Houston
Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars, have never claimed the crown. The Buffalo Bills and
Minnesota Vikings have had the toughest luck, making it to four Super Bowls and coming away
empty handed. This year will be a special year for me because my favorite team, the Denver
Broncos, face off against the Carolina Panthers.
What most people do not understand is that there is much more to the Super Bowl than two
football teams. Many corporations including Anheuser Busch, Doritos, and M&M, spend

millions of dollars to have their products advertised during this monstrous event. What I am
searching to understand is why these companies do this. Is the million dollar advertisement really
boosting the sales of their product enough to spend that kind of money, or is the funding just
available from past revenues?
In addition to the advertising, I would like to know why the event gets so much attention from
sports fans across the nation. People all across the nation host or attend parties for this clash of
the titans event. From electronics to appetizers, fans spend countless amounts of money to
entertain guests and enjoy the game. I would like to know how much money this event pulls in
from all of its different aspects. I would also like to know where that money goes and how it is
managed. These are the main points of emphasis I wish to find in depth research on and find the
solutions to the many questions I have brought to the table.
After through research on the topic I have found the answers I was looking for. The Super
Bowl is the second most watched sporting event in the world every year; second only to the
Federation International Football Association (FIFA) World Cup. During Super Bowl 47 53.3
million households tuned in to watched the big game. That is over 47 percent of all households in
the United States according to NBC average audience/viewers. During this event, tickets went
from the north end of $13,120 to the lowest price of $2,188. This would be a mere fraction as to
just how much money this event would pull in.
Companies, such as Anheuser Busch, spend as much as nine million dollars to advertise their
products during the Super Bowl. I found that this strategy is used to not just keep their most
popular products moving, but to also get out the word about new products. With the millions of
people watching the game it is sure to catch the attention of some viewers. This nine million

dollar purchase of airtime is definitely an investment more than a gamble. Statistics show that the
company gains, on average, $96 million from the ads. So it is safe to say, money well spent.
This was only the case for companies like Anheuser Busch who had none of the competition
running ads. For companies like Coca-Cola, or Pepsi, there commercials simply keep what they
have going and keep the smaller competition at bay. Some would say just drop the ads and save
the money. I found that if a company was to do this, then it would allow rival companies to
possibly gain an advantage which in turn would be bad for business.
Super Bowl Sunday is the second largest day of food consumption in the United States,
Thanksgiving being the first. I found that on average people will spend over $50 million on food
to entertain guests, family or both. There will also be 1.23 billion chicken wings eaten on this
famed day. This brings in a profit of l.6 million dollars, and that is just on chicken wings. I found
that 325.5 million gallons of beer will be consumed. To put that in prospective, it is the
equivalent of 750 thousand gallons per second flowing over Niagara Falls for 7.2 minutes.
The Super Bowl is one of the biggest sporting events in the world. I learned that millions of
dollars are invested into it and it is partly why it is so great. With my experience, when a lot of
time or money is put into something, it is usually a well worth experience. This is why I believe
so many people put the time, and money, into the Super Bowl. Be it from cooking meals to
entertaining guests, or investing millions of dollars in hopes of keeping the company thriving. So
the Super Bowl is not just a game; it is an American tradition.

Works Cited

Desta, Yohana. "How Much Food Americans Gorge on Super Bowl Sunday." <i>Mashable</i>.
Mashable, 28 Jan. 2015. Web. 01 Feb. 2016.
Elliott, Stuart. "For Super Bowl, Its Back to Basics for Anheuser-Busch." <i>The New York
Times</i>. The New York Times, 14 Jan. 2014. Web. 01 Feb. 2016.
Jon C. Ogg, 24/7 Wall St. "Super Bowl XLVII by the Numbers." <i>USA Today</i>. Gannett, 02
Feb. 2013. Web. 01 Feb. 2016.
Linshi, Jack. "3 Charts That Show Why No One Wins the Coke vs. Pepsi Fight." <i>Time</i>.
Time, 15 Feb. 2015. Web. 01 Feb. 2016.
Parker, Clifton B. "Super Bowl Ads Not Profitable for Competing Brands, Stanford Scholar
Says." <i>Stanford University</i>. Stanford University, 26 Jan. 2015. Web. 01 Feb. 2016.
Stephens, Savannah. "Super Bowl Ads: What Could You Buy for the Cost of a Commercial? BBC News." <i>BBC News</i>. British Broadcasting Company, 1 Feb. 2015. Web. 01 Feb.
2016.