Real Football

The curtain fell on the coliseum of modern times, in Arlington, Texas, during Super Bowl XLV. Is there a sporting event as characteristic of American culture as the game for the annual championship of the National Football League?

American football is not so typically American just because no one else in the world can understand the thousands of rules of a game that is measured in yards and that is stopped when yellow handkerchiefs are thrown; or can identify with the 45 personalities of the players that the teams have on their rosters for every game; or can follow with confidence which 11 of the 45 players are on the field at any given moment, in a sport without limits on the number of player substitutions nor a substitution board to announce them [as in soccer].

The Super Bowl is so typically American because it marks the moment when the line between entertainment, culture, consumption and advertising becomes the most blurred.

One week before Super Sunday, I received an invitation from a friend who lives in Washington to watch the game at his house. He was not a fan of either team, but he stressed that the gathering would be accompanied by the traditional Super Bowl barbecue. “You must come,” he said. “There is no other place where you can better understand Americans.” I declined, in spite of the fact that I would miss the opportunity to watch the game on his new big-screen TV, the special broadcast in HD and “the BBQ ribs made with my family’s special recipe.”

In the days leading up to the Super Bowl, according to a survey by the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association (RAMA), event-related sales were projected to be more than $10 billion. For example, it was estimated that 4.4 million people bought a new television, and another 2 million people bought new furniture. There is nothing more “gringo” than to sit with friends on the couch in front of the TV to watch the game. And according to the survey, each of the friends will have spent an average of $60 on food, beverages and incidentals. And we cannot forget the beer and football caps.

Except for the proportions and the game, nothing seems too different from a soccer match of the Colombian national team … provided that the televisions, the couches and the beer are only “dressings” for the sporting competition and the subsequent inebriation.

Then there are the commercials. Twenty-six percent of the people surveyed responded that the commercials were the most important part of the Super Bowl (versus 35 percent who said the game was most important). And of all the viewers, 75 percent thought that the commercials were mainly for entertainment.

All this makes me wonder if the Super Bowl is simply part of a culture traditionally oriented towards consumption, or if consumption and advertising have commoditized the cultural origin of American football. Or maybe there is simply no problem here, beyond my taste for real football [i.e. soccer].

Translator’s Note: The term “American football” is used to differentiate football as played in the U.S. from soccer. For example, soccer is called “football” in Britain and “fútbol” in Spanish-speaking countries.