• then The Who’s Pete Townsend was put on a sex-offender list for registering for a child porn site in 1999. He claimed it was for book research. Despite the case, Townsend was not found in possession of any images by Scotland Yard and had cooperated with the investigation. He was cleared of any wrongdoing.
• now Townsend, who’s playing at the Super Bowl tonight, is getting an earful from Child AbuseWatch, which is using the case to draw attention to child abuse issues. Townsend’s take? “It’s an issue that’s very difficult to deal with in sound bites.… I kind of feel like we’re all on the same side.” source

• The Super Bowl is an American phenomenon. Despite its completely unavoidable presence in the U.S., Super Bowl Sunday is pretty much a nonentity outside of North America, where soccer is king. Even so, it’s still a much bigger moneymaker than any other single sporting event. Here’s a breakdown of how this works out.

Not-so-super viewership

• 106
  million people watched all of last year’s Super Bowl telecast, almost entirely in the U.S. and Canada
• 109
  million people watched all of last year’s UEFA Champions League final, a hugely popular soccer match

Super brand value

• $420M the Super Bowl’s value as an brand, making it the largest brand of all
• $230M the Olympics’ value, despite the fact it’s a much larger event
• $120M the World Cup’s value; it routinely tops the Super Bowl in total viewers

Super ad rates

• $312 million in Anheuser-Busch ads alone since 1990

• $3
  million the amount NBC charged for 69 ad spots last year
• $2.8
  million the amount CBS is able to charge per ad this year source

• Big game, big profits. Despite the fact that it’s just a single game, it often can top the advertising value of both the the World Series and the NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four, which each take place over multiple games.

So why isn’t it spreading?

• complication American football is a much more complicated sport than soccer and basketball, which both have easily and quickly spread into China, for example. Blame the penalties.
• mediocrity The NFL had been trying to tap the European market for years with a secondary league which folded in 2007. Now the NFL has real games in Europe, a better strategy. source

• 1978 last time New Orleans had a white mayor (Mitch Landrieu won the race last night) source
• never last time New Orleans had a team in the Super Bowl (the Saints play the Colts later today) source

• In honor of Danica Patrick’s killer debut in NASCAR today, here’s the GoDaddy.com ad she was in for the Super Bowl. CBS denied the ad, which is about a football player whose voice gets higher the second he retires. Lola becomes a lingerie maker, which we’re guessing has less to do with the denial (the skin is on Victoria’s Secret level) than the fact that it’s hinted that Lola is gay. CBS has shown clear discomfort with homosexuality in its Super Bowl ads already.

• It’s not just stopping abortions. Tebow wants to convert people, like his father does in Muslim areas of the Philippines. Until now, he’s been subtle in his outreach.
• Slate sports columnist Jason Fagone • Regarding the soon-to-be-infamous Super Bowl commercial he’s doing with Focus on the Family, where he talks about his mom not getting an abortion. What one probably doesn’t know from his time with the Florida Gators is that he comes from an ultraconservative background and his dad is a missionary. In the past, he’s referred to himself as a “missionary who plays football.” He wears bible verses on his face, for chrissakes! So, in other words, it’s quite likely that the dude is going to follow his dad’s footsteps, whether he’s a Ryan Leaf or a Peyton Manning in the NFL. source

• It’s so expensive to buy time and produce a Super Bowl ad, and you have so much competition and so many distractions, that you must hit an absolute home run to be able to get return on investment.
• Quell Group senior vice president Jim Cain • Regarding the evolution of the Super Bowl ad. In recent years, many companies have balked at the $2.5-$2.75 million price tag per 30-second slot, the latest being Pepsico. Despite this, ads have been selling for as high as $3.2 million and are still in high demand. But with the added diversity in the advertising sphere – the Web is a pretty formidable option nowadays – along with the recession, many big brands are staying out of it altogether. Which used to be unheard of. source

• We’re calling hypocrite on CBS. A gay-themed ad was rejected by the same company that approved an anti-abortion ad. They’re claiming credit problems, despite the fact that the company was willing to pay cash and had $40 million in venture capital. Come on. This is politics, clear and simple. And we hope that CBS hears it loudly. By the way, GoDaddy’s latest sexapalooza was also rejected. source

• This ad is gonna be sooooooo controversial. Nothing like a gay men’s dating site to make the Tim Tebow anti-abortion ad seem pretty tame. Unfortunately for ManCrunch, CBS is slow to approve the ad, which could prevent it from being shown at all. If they approve the Tebow ad but don’t approve this, we know the truth. CBS is full of hypocrites. source

• By offering one of the most coveted advertising spots of the year to an anti-equality, anti-choice, homophobic organization, CBS is aligning itself with a political stance that will damage its reputation, alienate viewers, and discourage consumers from supporting its shows and advertisers.
• A statement by the Women’s Media Center • Regarding a planned Focus on the Family Super Bowl commercial featuring former University of Florida (and future NFL) star Tim Tebow. The commercial notes that Tebow was nearly aborted for medical reasons (his mom, Pam, refused), and since he was born, ta-dah!, now he’s one of the biggest college football stars in history. The commercial, obviously expensive, has the potential of being seen by a huge audience. It’s already hugely controversial. source

• 23 the number of years that Pepsi has had a prominent part of the Super Bowl advertising extravaganza
• refresh what Pepsi plans to do with their ad money instead, using it for a Web-based charity program source