Patriots vs. Slytherin

February 2, 2012

There is no alternative for New England sports fans: if you’re not glued to the television to watch the Superbowl on Sunday night, you’d better be in a coma.

Last year 111 million watched the Steelers and the Packers do battle, 5 million more than the year before for the Saints and the Colts. While the audience turnout could be dependent on the teams in the game to some degree, there are many reasons to watch.

Sports are a distraction from life’s daily difficulties during a recession, allowing people to put aside financial woes and the stress of unemployment for a few hours. This article for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta calls it the “opiate of the masses.”

Sports we consider obscure, like Quidditch, created for the Harry Potter books, are more internationally popular than NFL football.

Others watch only for the ads, which will run companies millions of dollars per minute. The ads have become a culture in themselves, with marketing students paying close attention and many people able to recall the blockbusters from years past. Remember last year’s little Darth Vader in the Volkswagen commercial? There will apparently be a sequel this year.

Perhaps there will be a few people in other countries curiously watching the Patriots and Giants this year, but it’s not the norm. Their version of football – what we call soccer – is by far more action-packed and followed by a greater number of people around the world. The last FIFA World Cup final had 700 million viewers from around the world, versus the NFL’s 111 viewers. And while baseball is gaining popularity around the world, more tune in to cricket and even field hockey than to the NFL. In fact, by audience numbers alone, our football is pretty obscure. Be careful, or the next Quidditch world cup could bump the superbowl from its perch among the next generation.