Readers: Super Bowl Interest Unchanged Because Of Rams Departure
In the non-scientific Sunday Poll nearly two-thirds indicated the Rams departure didn’t change their interest in the Super Bowl
Q: Now that St. Louis doesn’t have an NFL team, your interest in the Super Bowl is…
- Increased 0 [0%]
- Unchanged 30 [63.83%]
- Decreased 17 [36.17%]
However, without a home team, over a third had less interest. My guess is more people in Los Angeles are interested in the Super Bowl now that they again have a team. Net win for NFL.
— Steve Patterson
I disagree with your conclusion. If “your” city or “your” region has one of the two teams playing in the Super Bowl (Denver/Colorado or Charlotte/North Carolina, this year), then, yes, local interest goes up, significantly. But if “your” team isn’t playing, or if there is no local team, most people (who do) watch do so for the excitement, the commercials and/or because it’s an excuse to get together with friends and to have a party in the middle of the winter – the teams actually playing is secondary. Interest in the “big game” is driven by the pervasive hype, some social pressure and by many people’s deep seated interest in sports, in many forms. That also explains the fleeting annual interest in the Kentucky Derby, the NCAA Basketball Tournament and the Indianapolis 500, by people who have little interest, otherwise, in horse racing, college basketball or auto racing, respectively: http://dailysnark.com/amount-people-showed-broncos-parade-insane/
To my knowledge, in the 21 seasons the Rams played here they made it to the Super Bowl only twice. Winning once.