Apple, Other Tech Companies Give $2 Million Each to Cover Taxpayer Costs of Super Bowl 50

I'm sorry to say that, but this is one of the reasons why others think Americans are shallow and dumb. You need to see lots of scoring to get excited. This diminishes everything else that's going on in the game. You don't see the skill that goes into defending, or breaking that solid defense. You don't see the philosophy and tactics that teams have in their DNAs. You miss all the excitement and disappointment a single goal causes, or the fear or hope that a goal may happen. You have scores and scores and more scores that is kind of boring for almost anyone outside of US. At the end, one team scores more than the other to win the game. It's almost guaranteed that there won't be any kind of excitement that is comparable to a single goal in a real football game. A football fan remembers a crucial save by a goalkeeper 30-50 years after it happened because a single save maybe really, really important. All you will remember will be statistics made by faceless athletes.

It's also disturbing to see families let their sons do this "sport" knowing that it will make them heavy (I'm trying to be polite here) and cause them a brain damage. I find American football one of the reasons why Americans get large and heavy instead of getting fit, strong and nimble. In real football you don't see any overweight players and they are certainly not allowed to hit each other on the head.

And I don't understand why Silicon Valley companies that need a smart generation of Americans to design and use their smart devices promote something that makes young men stupid.

Also...
Image (http://betsportsnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/football_vs_soccer_xlarge.jpeg)

Good points. But here's a third viewpoint: They're both boring sports, played by a bunch of entitled prima donnas, and watched by overzealous whack-os.

World Cup is bigger...bla bla bla...Futbol is better than football...bla bla bla. This debate pops up every four years. Sick of it.

It's not really much of a debate, it's fact. American sports are practically only watched/followed in America. The football (soccer) World Cup is watched globally.

I don't care if its a debate or not. Football may not be as loved internationally, but it is a much larger business than soccer. Close to $10B in revenue.

It really, really isn't a much larger business. Simply the top 3 football teams in the world (clubs, not countries) exceed that $10B revenue by themselves ...

... not to mention transfer costs for players regularly exceed £20 million. I don't really want to have this argument but I fear you've been misinformed.

Good on them to pay the extra costs. Football as a private enterprise should not have to rely on public financing for their stadiums or other activities. Lord knows they make enough money.

So if the Super Bowl is held in the following cities, here are the possible items to offset the cost of hosting:

• Detroit - A 1973 Ford Pinto, a Temptations Greatest Hits CD and a bag of weed.

• Miami - 3000 gallons of sunscreen and a brick of cocaine.

• Meadowlands - Snookie

• Oakland - Bulletproof jackets for all attendees

For the American market, the Super Bowl is the biggest media event so this makes sense in that market. But world wide, the World Cup is where the action is, and this year that means Brazil starting in a week. Clearly Beats is trying to tie in ther ads to the cup with their recent ads focused on Futbol players wearing beats headphones. I have yet to see other apple tie ins to the cup, which would be a missed opportunity IMO.

So if the Super Bowl is held in the following cities, here are the possible items to offset the cost of hosting:

• Detroit - A 1973 Ford Pinto, a Temptations Greatest Hits CD and a bag of weed.

• Miami - 3000 gallons of sunscreen and a brick of cocaine.

• Meadowlands - Snookie

• Oakland - Bulletproof jackets for all attendees

MacRumors pls bring back downvote button

It's not really much of a debate, it's fact. American sports are practically only watched/followed in America. The football (soccer) World Cup is watched globally.

Sorry but you're wrong if you think the NFL is only really watched in America. The NFL season is huge here in the uk, so much so that regular season games are played here at Wembley. The NFL is also constantly considering the possibility of a London franchise.

As for the Super Bowl, world wide viewing figures for the game hover around the 1 billion mark each year, so to say that it's practically only watched by Americans is a fundamentally flawed view

EDIT: basically this is a huge advertising opportunity for any company

I went to a FFC football game last year while in London and I nearly fell asleep about half way through it. It was exciting at first, but it became very boring. No score until the last few minutes. Fulham won. I knew I'd better keep awake for the sake of not getting thrown out lol. Sorry, but American football is a 1000x more exciting.

I'm sorry to say that, but this is one of the reasons why others think Americans are shallow and dumb. You need to see lots of scoring to get excited. This diminishes everything else that's going on in the game. You don't see the skill that goes into defending, or breaking that solid defense. You don't see the philosophy and tactics that teams have in their DNAs. You miss all the excitement and disappointment a single goal causes, or the fear or hope that a goal may happen. You have scores and scores and more scores that is kind of boring for almost anyone outside of US. At the end, one team scores more than the other to win the game. It's almost guaranteed that there won't be any kind of excitement that is comparable to a single goal in a real football game. A football fan remembers a crucial save by a goalkeeper 30-50 years after it happened because a single save maybe really, really important. All you will remember will be statistics made by faceless athletes.

It's also disturbing to see families let their sons do this "sport" knowing that it will make them heavy (I'm trying to be polite here) and cause them a brain damage. I find American football one of the reasons why Americans get large and heavy instead of getting fit, strong and nimble. In real football you don't see any overweight players and they are certainly not allowed to hit each other on the head.

And I don't understand why Silicon Valley companies that need a smart generation of Americans to design and use their smart devices promote something that makes young men stupid.

Also...

Good points. But here's a third viewpoint: They're both boring sports, played by a bunch of entitled prima donnas, and watched by overzealous whack-os.

This is the only real conclusion I can agree with.