Marketing the Bad Boys of the NFL Research Paper

Marketing the Bad Boys of the NFL - Research Paper Example The Super Bowl is the most-watched American television broadcast. Super Bowl XLIV, played in 2010 between the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts, became the most-watched American television program in history, drawing an average audience of 106.5 million viewers and taking over the spot held for 27 years by the final episode of MASH. Sunday Night Football has become the most popular sow in prime-time television this season, dominating the overall Nielsen ratings, with the highest average viewership for a prime-time NFL package in 14 years. Sunday, December 6th's Pittsburgh-Baltimore classic, seen in nearly 23 million homes, was the most-watched show on television in the first week of December 2010, as Sunday Night Football has been since the start of the 2010 season. The NFL is so violent that the league, the US military, and neurologists recently held a conference to investigate head injuries and concussions and determine if equipment or rule changes could protect the players better. Remarkably, the military was involved because NFL players suffer the same type and frequency of injuries as soldiers in combat. That is an astonishing correlation – the NFL is as violent as combat in Afghanistan and Iraq. NFL is so violent that players regularly suffer 'career-ending' injuries that leave them crippled for life. It is so violent that Daryl Stingley was paralyzed for life in a game, and in pre-season games at that. In a meaningless preseason game New England Patriots quarterback Steve Grogan overthrew wide receiver Darryl Stingley, Jack Tatum of the Oakland Raiders, known for his vicious hits, nailed Stingley while he was in the air, snapping vertebrae in his neck. Stingley was a quadriplegic for the rest of his life. He died in April of 2007 at the age of 55 of heart disease and pneumonia complicated by his quadriplegia. NFL also has a propensity for criminality and criminal violence.