Friday, February 5, 2010

Is the Big Game Really Super?

Have you noticed all of the advertising that refers to the Super Bowl as "The Big Game"? The NFL has certain restrictions on the use of the name "Super Bowl" since they have it trademarked. They don't permit anyone using the name for any type of financial gain UNLESS, of course, you are a Super Bowl sponsor - meaning you're willing to shell out the millions it costs to be one.n That's okay, of course!
Let's be real here! Does it really make that big of a difference if a local TV store sells their TV's for "The Big Game" or the "Super Bowl"? We all know what the "Big game" is (unless we've been under a rock for the past month). Heck, this event is so big that someone in Congress has even brought up the consideration of making the following Monday a holiday. The Super Bowl IS an American event so why should we not be able to capitalize on it. We do for Valentine's Day, Mothers' Day, Fathers' Day, etc. So, if somebody decided to trademark Valentine's Day and follow the same restrictions as the NFL, would advertisers have to refer to that day as "Your Day of Love" in lieu of the trademarked name? Ridiculous.
So, I'm having a Super Bowl party during which I'll be playing various "games" that require participants to drop a small amount of cash into a "kitty". Since there is possible financial gain there, is the NFL coming to my house on Sunday to present a "cease and desist" order? Or YOUR house? If so, they better get busy printing up about a million! Of course they won't. How can they police it if we all just decide how ridiculous this trademark is and just call the "Big Game" what it is - THE SUPER BOWL!!! Enjoy your Super Sunday.
(BTW - I'll take the Saints!)

3 comments:

Brett Slater said...

Completely agree... I'd be interested to see some stats on how much money the multi-billion-dollar NFL claims to have "lost" as a result of infringement on that silly trademark...

OneLifeLiveIt said...

Twitter was awash with the trending topic Super Bowl. I stayed up until 3am to watch it. Glad I did it was a good game - one for the underdog.

Anonymous said...

Hello! :)