Title

The Super Bowl At 50 Or L

Keywords

American football league; National football league; Super bowl; Television; Thorstein veblen

Abstract

In the short span of a half-century the Super Bowl has grown from a modest championship game between two football leagues into an outsized mid-winter holiday co-produced by the National Football League and the combined efforts of the American advertising and television industries. It has grown from a one-day into a two-week festival featuring a vast range of events, parties, and a championship football game. Fifty years on, half of the population of the United States and a worldwide television audience participate in Super Bowl activities and festivities either live or virtually. Television, marketing, and a wide range of media platforms have aided and abetted the growth of this celebration of football and consumption. Although there are many ways to describe the Super Bowl it is the nineteenth century vocabulary of the economist Thorstein Veblen that best captures its essence. In Veblen’s words it is a case of ‘conspicuous consumption’ now running on steroids.

Publication Date

1-22-2017

Publication Title

International Journal of the History of Sport

Volume

34

Issue

1-2

Number of Pages

7-22

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2017.1349114

Socpus ID

85026545398 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85026545398

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