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Recession zaps Super Bowl, too

By Staff | Jan 29, 2009

TAMPA – There were mountains of jumbo shrimp and caviar everywhere. Muhammad Ali would show up, maybe amid a fleet of shiny Cadillacs. Five-star hotels were packed, and getting a dinner reservation for Saturday night was impossible. Finding a ticket was even harder.

In years past, the Super Bowl was so much more than a game. It was an outright orgy of football, glitz and gluttony, a celebration of excess where too much was never enough.

The No. 1 sporting event in America is still a big deal. Nearly 100 million of us will tune in Sunday night when the Pittsburgh Steelers play the Arizona Cardinals.

In these tough economic times, the Super Bowl is taking a hit, too.

General Motors and FedEx pulled their TV ads, even though NBC lowered the price. Playboy canceled its annual party. Almost 200 fewer media credentials were issued.

“When I think of the NFL, I think of recession-proof,” Cardinals lineman Elliot Vallejo said this week, “but that’s not true anymore.”

Used to be everywhere you looked around a Super Bowl town, all you could see was advertising. There were commercial booths at every turn. The headquarters hotel and media center looked like giant trade shows.

Now you can look pretty much everywhere and actually see things. Such as empty tables at local restaurants and vacant hotel rooms downtown.

StubHub does have a sign on the mezzanine level at Raymond James Stadium. The nationwide ticket broker also had more than 3,000 seats for sale, as of midweek. They were getting less expensive by the minute.

“In terms of pricing, this game has become the Limbo Bowl – how low can it go?” StubHub spokesman Sean Pate said. “When it comes to plunking down $7,000 for a weekend, people are becoming more pragmatic.”

Soon, the NFL plans to reduce 10 percent of its staff.

The league won’t feel the biggest effects from the recession until it’s time for fans to renew and buy season tickets.

Terry McAulay will referee his second Super Bowl Sunday.

Completing his 11th season as an NFL official, McAulay also worked the 2005 Super Bowl in Jacksonville. A graduate of LSU, he has officiated nine playoff games: one Super Bowl, five championship games, two divisional playoffs and one wild-card game.

McAulay earned the assignment through the league’s evaluation system in which the highest-rated officials at each position with the required experience are chosen to work the game.

Super Bowl officials must have at least five years of NFL experience and previous playoff assignments.

Other members of the Super Bowl crew: umpire Roy Ellison, head linesman Derick Bowers, line judge Mark Perlman, field judge Greg Gautreaux, side judge Michael Banks, back judge Keith Ferguson, and replay official Bob McGrath.