#six only hit the humor mark like ...generously. 60% of the time?

[fideidefenswhore]

anyways....when is boleyn, the musical coming out, again?

[wineanddinosaur]

Before Dating Apps, Retro-Futuristic Telephone Bars Nurtured Introvert-Friendly Flirtation

The sign on the bar’s front door sounds almost quaint for this era: “By entering these premises, you hereby waive the following rights: To privacy. To publicity. To bring a claim against C.E.V.”

C.E.V. stood for Controlled Entropy Ventures, the experimental technology company behind Remote Lounge, a concept bar that opened in NYC’s East Village less than a month after 9/11/2001. Inside the lounge were 60 miniature cameras (or was it more?) that filmed patrons and allowed them to surveil each other in hopes of generating love connections — or impromptu hookups.

Considered mind-blowing and transgressive at the time, Remote Lounge seems antiquated if not downright childish today, when literally everyone at every bar has their head head, staring at their phone. Still, looking back at the bar offers a fascinating insight into social culture in the final days before iPhones and dating apps. While hardly remembered today, Remote Lounge rather presciently foreshadowed the vaguely performative, look-at-me digital narcissism that has pervaded, if not somewhat ruined, modern nightlife in NYC and worldwide.

The Telepresence Bar

“The genesis of the idea came from working with Josh Harris,” explains Leo Fernekes, one of the three partners of C.E.V. “He basically funded these crazy experimental ideas and I used them as a paid lab learning experience.”

Labeled New York’s first Internet millionaire, Harris was the founder of live streaming network Pseudo Programs — and a bit of a conceptual artist. With $85 million in his bank account after cashing out an early dot-com IPO, he hired C.E.V. to produce “Quiet: We Live in Public” in December 1999. It was a “Truman Show”-esque experiment in which 100 volunteers lived in a four-story human terrarium in SoHo, filled with free food and drink, not to mention machine guns, while webcams followed their every move.

“People want to turn the camera on themselves,” Harris told Wired at the time. “There is a pent-up desire for personal celebrity.”

The toilets lacked walls, the only shower was in a see-through geodesic dome, and the basement had a system that allowed residents to control cameras to watch their housemates having sex. A giant sign constantly warned the residents: “WE LIVE IN PUBLIC.” Their experiment later became the subject of a 2009 documentary of the same name.

“One thing that convinced me to open Remote Lounge is that Josh threw a party with all those cameras,” Fernekes says. “There were cameras in the bathroom and during the party, people would go in and perform for them. Doing sexy, naughty things, knowing they were being broadcast and monitored outside. Then they’d come out of the bathroom and people would cheer.

“‘Wow, that’s something I’ve never seen before!’” Fernekes remembers thinking. “It seemed natural to extend it into a business concept.”

A bar appeared to be the most practical move, especially since another one of C.E.V.’s partners, Bob Stratton, a software developer, knew the industry a bit from his stint as a bartender at 2A, a dive on 2nd Street and Avenue A.

“Our concept of voyeurism is very much along the lines of a normal bar,” Stratton told the L.A. Times. “People are constantly checking each other out anyway.”

The startup took over a storefront on the skid row Bowery where Bowery Electrical Supply Company, an electrical wiring outfit, had resided since 1947. They cleaned up the space’s rotted floors and outfitted it with cameras and monitors. The equipment was hardly state of the art, even by nearly 20-year-old standards.

“This has to be as inexpensive as possible,” thought Fernekes, claiming if he had developed a fancier bit of technology he wouldn’t have wasted it on a bar. They used the cheapest possible consumer-grade televisions and mounted them in interesting places around the space. There were 12 cameras over the bar, six more scattered in random places, and 24 cameras placed at custom-designed “Cocktail Consoles.” They were all rigged together like a cable TV set-up — each console had joysticks that could move any camera 360 degrees, able to see every inch of the bar — as well as a monitor that customers could tune to any camera’s black-and-white broadcast.

C.E.V. called Remote a “telepresence” bar, but critics thought the NASA-gray consoles and traffic-cone-orange seating was more “retro-futurist.” Based on this 2002 picture of Remote Lounge, it resembles a 1960s vision of the future; “The Jetsons,” if you consider that a positive, or “2001: A Space Odyssey” if you don’t.

Fernekes estimates it cost them about $1 million to set up the bar, but about 75 percent of that was just exorbitant Manhattan real estate costs.

“My partners and I were high on the total hubris of the dot-com era,” Fernekes says. “We were delusional in the thought that everything we touched could be turned into gold. I look back at it now and it’s a little sad. Sad, but humorous.”

Remote Lounge opened in NYC in 2001 with retro-futurist interiors. Credit: JPDA.net

A Digital Playhouse for Local Hipsters

Yet Remote Lounge was almost immediately a hit with the “in” crowd, and it quickly (and briefly) became a part of the East Village party circuit. From its October 9, 2001 opening onward, there were lines to get in every night for the first six months. Microsoft and Apple even fought over which would be the first to hold a party there (Microsoft won).

“The whole city was still in mourning, in shock and disbelief [over 9/11] and Remote kind of popped up as this cute, happy story,” Fernekes says. “The media also went bananas for it.”

Within the first month The New York Times called it, “perhaps the most media-intensive public setting in the city.” CIOL thought it was “a digital playhouse for local hipsters.” Reading these articles in 2019 is incredibly amusing, given the very public nature of social media, dating apps, and nearly every other facet of modern society.

“The concept is incredibly simple: hand over your privacy at the front door and enter a world where anyone anywhere can follow your every move,” proclaimed a 2001 BBC News article, crediting its development and acceptance to “a mix of instant messaging and reality TV, both becoming extremely popular in the last few years.”

Early Yelp reviews are even more hilarious: “It’s like on-line/chat room dating but you’re in a real room and everyone’s eerily watching you! (sic)” “I guess you can call it ‘instant’ video-dating?” “why would you call someone on the phone when they’re in the same room with you??”

Adding to the surreality, Fernekes would often lie about how many cameras were actually in the bar (that BBC article claims a remarkable 120) and made up names for the drinks they served (he told writers their most popular cocktail was the Vertical Hold, an archaic term for adjusting a tube television set).

In actuality, Remote Lounge was like any other bar, serving Brooklyn Lagers and vodka sodas in the early-aughts era of New York nightlife — except for all those creepy cameras.

“Culturally the world was evolving to having a greater comfort for these ideas,” Fernekes says.

The visionary Harris had previously predicted to Business Week that the world was already headed toward a place where “people want their fame on a day-to-day basis, rather than in their lifetime.” And Remote Lounge fit the bill, even screen-grabbing the most outrageous moments of the night — which often involved nudity — and uploading them to the lounge’s website instantaneously. This encouraged introverts to monitor what was happening at the bar and, if they saw something they liked, hopefully lure them out for the evening. (Curious to see what they were seeing? You can! For unknown reasons, someone is still fitting the website’s hosting bill.)

Still, if Remote Lounge was the world’s first “telepresence” bar, Fernekes knew there was a bit of a precedent in the form of “telephone bars.”

A Neat Party Trick

Telecommunications have a long history in nightlife. The telephone was invented in 1876, and by the early 1900s, diners at higher-end restaurants could request to have phones brought to their tables for important calls.

In 1920s Berlin, some nightclubs had installed tischtelefonen on every table, so Weimar-era partiers could dial up random guests at any other table, which were marked by lighted numbers. At Femina and the Resi, two Berlin dance clubs that each held thousands, customers could even send pneumatic tubes filled with cigarettes, Champagne bottles, and notes to other tables. (Though nothing too provocative, as “messages sent by tube [were] checked by female ‘censors’ in the switchboard room,” according to The Chicago Tribune.) This gimmick was memorialized in “Caberet’s” “Telephone Song” and still occurs at Ballhaus Berlin.

A few decades later, in 1968, a pricey joint called Ma Bell’s opened in New York’s Times Square. Each table at Ma Bell’s had its own “old-timey” landline with free calling privileges (even long distance!). It was open until the mid-1980s and was featured as a setting in a Season 6 episode of “Mad Men.” While bar-hopping, Joan (Christina Hendricks) and a visiting gal pal hit the new spot, noting that, “Apparently, there are quite a few men here who go for a certain type.”

Yes, whether Berlin in the 1920s, Times Square in the ’60s, or the Bowery at the turn of the 21st century, these bars were, of course, mainly designed for amorous purposes. USA Today believed that, with Remote Lounge, C.E.V. had created “a setting that could revolutionize flirting in New York.” The L.A. Times wasn’t quite as certain, mocking the bar as a place “where Stanley Kubrick and Michel Foucault would go scouting for dates.”

But 20-something New Yorkers immediately loved the concept, a harbinger of their technological dating futures to come. “Around midnight, a long-haired man dressed in requisite all-black, sidles up to writer Kate for a rare moment of face-to-face human interaction,” observed journalist Lauren Sandler in 2002. “His parting words are the ultimate postmodern pickup line … ‘Find me on screen later.’”

“It’s a legalized version of stalking,” a female NYU student told CIOL on opening night, observing how the monitors only showed grainy, black-and-white images. “It makes people look a lot better than they do in person, masking their flaws and making them look more attractive.”

That was intentional. Fernekes had realized that the impersonality of it all was why the concept worked so well. When the place was packed, you could be ogling a person on the monitor with no sense that they were just five feet away from you, unaware where you were as well. If both parties actually liked what they saw on their monitors, you could message a “hello” using the system’s crude text-messaging capabilities or ask to speak to them on the console’s land lines.

“That gave you the freedom to say outrageous things, as if the person wasn’t really there,” says Fernekes. “This chaos diffused into a sense of detached, impersonal anonymity.”

Rejection didn’t hurt as much either, claims Fernekes, because, unlike a face-to-face interaction in the real world, you didn’t have to actually see them reject you. They could just ignore your console-to-console texts. It became a total free-for-all, with customers trying to pick up as many people as they could at one time. Get rejected, and you could simply flip the TV channel, quickly moving onto the next person on screen, then the next. If in-person pick-up culture used to favor the bold, Remote Lounge favored the shy and timid.

“Remote Lounge provides yet another opportunity to erect a barrier between ourselves and the people we hope to meet. It is almost as though we yearn for the days of an appointed chaperone to play interference,” Stacy Kravetz wrote in her 2005 book “The Dating Race,” ultimately denigrating the cameras and monitors as nothing more than a “neat party trick, a way to entertain myself while I sit at a table.”

Our Technologically Perverted World

“Twelve years later, it’s funny to think how this novelty bar in NYC would so closely mirror our modern experience,” says Brian C. Roberts, a popular online personality. “Sometimes I’m shocked at how my experiences at the Remote Lounge would be recreated time and time again by following a hashtag on Twitter, to a photo on Instagram, to a small conversation online, and finally with meeting someone face to face … all over the course of 10 or 20 minutes on my iPhone at a local bar.”

Unfortunately, though, whether Remote Lounge was shockingly prescient, or just a neat party trick — or probably both — it ultimately wasn’t enough of a gimmick to create a thriving business. Nor was all that media coverage.

“The truth is, [Remote] reached a huge international audience,” explains Fernekes, “but those people couldn’t come to our bar, so it was lost at that point.”

C.E.V. had once hoped to franchise its idea, with pop-up Remote Lounges all over America and Europe. It hoped to then connect them all through the same system so drinkers in, say, Dallas could flirt with bar patrons in Amsterdam — “the time-shifting of content,” Fernekes called it. “The problem is, the only way we were making money is by selling drinks and there’s a limit to what you can charge people for a cocktail. It just didn’t make much economic sense.”

Eventually, Fernekes realized the bar also suffered from what you would call a “critical mass” problem. A packed house on Saturday was great. But what if you came in on a Monday evening and there were only two other customers in the bar?

“It was very uncomfortable, like going into a hall of mirrors,” Fernekes says. “If the bar had less than three or four people, it was a very unpleasant experience.”

People quickly realized that as well. First, Mondays started being dead, then Tuesday, then the whole week, and little by little Remote Lounge was only getting viable crowds on the weekends. Soon the cameras and monitors quit working; drunk and disorderly patrons even broke a few. Eventually you had a mostly empty, windowless, retro-futurist bar with dozens of monitors broadcasting bright-white static.

“It was a novelty at first, but gave way quickly to just being creepy,” Eater wrote in a 2007 postmortem. “The crowd got seedier over time.”

The real world was changing, too, and finally catching up to Remote Lounge’s vision. In 2007, Americans sent more texts than phone calls. Dating websites were becoming more prominent and mainstream. Then, in June 2007, the iPhone hit the market. This was perhaps the final nail in the coffin for Remote, and the one topic Fernekes seemed unwilling to discuss still today. Remote Lounge closed a few months later in November 2007.

“Nowadays you’re just numb to all of it. It’s too much of a technologically perverted world,” Fernekes says. “I think Remote definitely alluded to the perversely artificial and competitive nature of Instagram. The technologically augmented social interactions that are completely fabricated and just designed to tap into the human instincts. It’s a bit perverse and unhealthy. Our genetic, instinctual evolution has not caught up with the technology.”

And the technology is still racing forward. Smartphones have gotten better and more widespread in the last decade. Meanwhile, texting grew more prominent, and a plethora of dating apps arrived. In 2009, Grindr launched, and in 2012 Tinder. Now all the pieces are in place — everyone has a tiny Remote Lounge in their pocket or purse at all times. You just need to add drinks.

“I see kids on their phone today [at the bar],” says Fernekes, now 56 and living in Bangkok. “And I think, wow, that looks kind of sad. It’s just not a reality that seems very interesting to me.”

The article Before Dating Apps, Retro-Futuristic Telephone Bars Nurtured Introvert-Friendly Flirtation appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/back-to-the-future-flirting/

[rickhorrow]

15 + 5 + 5 To Watch : 12219

The field is now set for Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta, with the perennial New England Patriots facing the up and coming Los Angeles Rams, and the average rate for a 30-second ad in the Super Bowl game increased by 96% during the past decade, reaching $5.24 million in 2018. According to Kantar Media analyses, during that same period, average primetime ad rates fell by 12%. In 2018, marketers spent $408 million for in-game messages. If you add in pre-and post-game spots, the total investment hits $482 million. The 2017 Super Bowl holds the records for in-game ad spending ($419 million) and total ad spending ($534 million) due to an overtime period. So far, sales for Super Bowl LIII hospitality packages are up about 17% from last season's event in Minnesota, according to On Location Experiences. And interestingly, the year-over-year increase in female fans purchasing NFL tickets from 2017 to 2018 is 61%, according to research from league ticketing partner Ticketmaster. While the Rams, playing in America’s second-biggest media market, will no doubt add many thousands of eyeballs and dollars to the mix, seeing the Patriots in the Super Bowl for the fourth time in five years and Patriots quarterback Tom Brady making his ninth appearance in the Big Game is downright nauseating to millions of NFL fans.

For a variety of reasons, there appears to be a dearth of celebrities appearing in Super Bowl ads so far this year, according to AdAge. Last year, 56 celebrities appeared in Super Bowl ads, up from 43 the year prior, according to E-Poll Market Research. Last Monday, Hyundai stayed firm on the celebrity bandwagon when it revealed that Jason Bateman will star in its first quarter spot. The 60-second commercial will use humor to promote its auto warranty program. Other celebrities confirmed to appear in Super Bowl LIII ads so far include Luke Wilson for Colgate and Peter Hermann reprising his role as "The Professional" for Persil ProClean. It remains to be seen if the controversy surrounding how the NFL handled players protesting racial injustice by taking a knee during the National Anthem is affecting celebrities' decision to appear in Super Bowl ads. While Amy Schumer and Rihanna have both said that they would boycott the Super Bowl in support of Colin Kaepernick, many other brands continue to take the “regular Joe” route for Super Bowl spots, opting to spend their advertising dollars on real people promoting real products with humor, poignancy, or both.

More brands are "tangling with political and social issues in their advertising campaigns.” However, most Americans “would rather they don't try the same thing during the Super Bowl," according to the Wall Street Journal. Viewers are "likely to get what they want." The WSJ poll shows two-thirds of consumers "call the Super Bowl an inappropriate place for advertisers to make political statements." Baby boomers in the poll "disapproved of political Super Bowl advertisements more, at 77%, than younger cohorts such as millennials (55%) and Generation Z (43%)." Only 35% of Generation Z respondents "called political Super Bowl ads 'very' or 'somewhat' appropriate." The Super Bowl has "featured political ads before, most notably" in Super Bowl LI, which "took place soon after President Trump's inauguration." A year later, Super Bowl LII was "less overtly political, but still included” a Coca-Cola ad promoting unity, a T-Mobile USA Inc. diversity theme, and a Dodge Ram Trucks spot using audio of a Martin Luther King Jr. speech in an ad that promoted public service. Marketers have not "shown any inclination to charge into hard-core politics or social controversies" during Super Bowl LIII. However, with the country as divided as it is, themes imploring diversity, unity, and inclusion will no doubt make their way into the February 3 broadcast.

In its eighth consecutive installment, The POWER 100, Horrow Sports Ventures’ proprietary annual ranking of the most powerful athletes in sports, uses a complex statistical model to accurately compare performance and influence through on-field (50%) and off-field (50%) attributes. Athletes are then ranked based on POWER to find the TOP 100. Among interesting results: Serena Williams is not ranked for the first time ever. Her performance slowed after taking some time to start a family, and some controversial moments may have hurt her brand. Expect a strong bounce back once she’s back on schedule. Tom Brady (14), in the cusp of playing in yet another Super Bowl, has hit his highest ranking in recent memory, a nearly 54 place increase since last year. And the stellar play of NBA’er Giannis Antetokounmpo continued on the court and has paid dividends off the court as well, as he placed 8th. Top endorsement earners were Roger Federer (12) taking home $58 million in off court sponsorships and LeBron James (10) with $56 million. The highest place rookie from any sport is quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who finished 20th in the rankings and came within minutes of reaching the Super Bowl on Sunday.

Thanks to Tiger Woods, Torrey Pines is preparing to welcome an additional 30,000 fans to the Farmers Insurance Open this week. With Woods committing to the golf tournament at the 11th hour, the “Tiger Effect” produces 20% more spectators on the bluffs overlooking the Pacific, according to tournament director Peter Ripa. This looks to be the strongest field for the tournament since 2005, with World No. 1 Justin Rose, No. 7 Jon Rahm, defending champion Jason Day, and Rory McIlroy also teeing it up at Torrey this week as part of the PGA Tour’s West Coast Swing. This year’s tournament marks the 20th anniversary of Woods’ first victory there – he’s won the event seven times – and also marks the site where he won the last of his 14 majors, at the 2008 U.S. Open. Farmers Insurance has title sponsored the event since 2010. Next up for Torrey Pines after this week’s tournament: a $14 million renovation of the facility’s famed South Course as it begins to prepare for the U.S. Open to be held there once again in 2021.

Golf also got some encouraging news this week from the market research firm NPD Group, which reported that the golf market “has not only recuperated but experienced a significant uptick in sales” in the past 12 months, resulting in an 8% year-over-year increase up to $2.6 billion. “The macro environment for golf has been in a turbulent state, fueled by Golfsmith’s bankruptcy, major brands cutting back on their golf business, and courses closing. But today, we’re starting to see normalization in the market as those deep holes are now being filled,” said Matt Powell, vice president and senior industry advisor of the NPD Group. The industry saw increases across every product category. Clubs, which make up 50% of the category, grew by 7%, while equipment accessories such as balls (6% increase), gloves (7% increase), accessories (21% increase), and training aids (13%) also made positive strides in 2018. Callaway, Titleist, and Wilson were the fastest-growing brands among the top-10, joining TaylorMade and PING as the other two members of the top-5. With Baby Boomers retiring every day, great opportunity exists to introduce thousands of new retirees to golf. Combine that with a good economy, Tiger’s resurgence, and thrilling up and comers in the game and you have the makings of a stable industry.

This year's Australian Open "should see more financial records broken," as ticket sales last week "were tracking 20-25% higher than the same time a year ago and revenue will surge to a record high. According to The Australian, Tennis Australia is beginning a new six-year, $249 million broadcast deal with Nine Entertainment and has signed $7.19 million-plus "annual sponsorship deals" with Kia and Chinese spirits brand 1715. The money coming in has "allowed Tennis Australia to spend huge sums on growing the Open into a sporting, food and entertainment event that dominates Melbourne for two weeks." Tennis Australia will also hold a $359,000 event for esports leader "Fortnite" after "striking an agreement" with developer Riot Games. Last year's Australian Open "attracted a record audience of 743,000 over the two weeks. The HINDU.com noted the Australian Open now "sets the standard for player facilities and spectator experience." In this year's entry list, the world's "top 102 women and 101 men confirmed their attendance." The Australian Open has increased its purse" to $45.1 million, a jump of 14% over last year. Most of these increases will be directed towards players in qualifying, early rounds, and doubles.

The NHL has detailed activation plans for its 2019 NHL Fan Fair presented by SAP, the official fan festival of the 2019 Honda NHL All-Star Weekend, January 24-27 in San Jose. Highlights of the four-day, family-friendly festival spanning 175,000 square feet include SAP’s Battles from the Bench and SAP NHL All-Star Skills Zone and the 2019 NHL Mascot Showdown presented by Playmobil, along with attractions from Adidas, Bridgestone, the Cigna Kids Zone, the Coors Light ‘The Silver Bullet Slapshot: the Enterprise NHL Hat Trick Challenge, FanDuel Chuck-A-Puck, GEICO Speed Shot Challenge, the New Amsterdam Vodka Bullseye Battle, and more. The home of the San Jose Sharks is looking forward to its moment in the icy sun in a sports market that the Golden State Warriors have dominated over the last few years, particularly in the winter months.

Adidas and the NHL have unveiled new, eco-innovative and ocean-inspired adizero authentic jerseys for the 2019 Honda NHL All-Star Game. The first-ever NHL hockey jerseys feature repurposed and upcycled materials created in partnership with Parley for the Oceans. Parley Ocean Plastic™ is a range of materials made from upcycled marine plastic debris, and each jersey is crafted to be a symbol of change in the movement to protect our oceans. As a part of their partnership and joint commitments to ending marine plastic pollution through the Parley AIR Strategy (Avoid, Intercept, Redesign), Adidas and Parley rework these various marine plastic waste materials into technical fibers that create the material framework of a durable, yet breathable fabric that is optimal for Adidas performance apparel. The new special edition adizero Authentic Pro x Parley jerseys will be worn by the NHL's best players exclusively for the 2019 SAP NHL All-Star Skills on Friday, January 25 and for the 2019 Honda NHL All-Star Game on Saturday, January 26 at SAP Center in San Jose.

Even though it is retaining its deals with individual teams like the Super Bowl bound Los Angeles Rams, Hyundai isn't continuing a league-level sponsorship deal with the NFL when its four-year partnership ends after this season. The decision clears the way for another automaker to take the mantle. According to Automotive News, Hyundai Motor America CMO Dean Evans made it clear that NFL programming will still be a "key piece of its marketing strategy going forward." While Hyundai "carried the official vehicle and SUV moniker, and Genesis was the official luxury vehicle, rival brands such as Ford and Toyota still filled the airwaves on game days." Hyundai had "tweaked its game plan by taking a more aggressive stance on game days this season," highlighted by its pregame sponsorship of "Sunday Night Football." For this year's Super Bowl, Hyundai said that it will "engage with fans celebrating in Atlanta" as the presenting sponsor of the Super Bowl Experience Driven by Hyundai. 

It’s official: Austin will be the 27th MLS franchise. Last week, MLS Commissioner Don Garber recognized Austin FC as the league's 27th team, with the expansion franchise "set to begin play" in the spring of 2021 at a privately-financed, 20,000-seat stadium at McKalla Place in North Austin,  according to the Austin American-Statesman. While the team will be majority owned by Austin FC Chair and CEO Anthony Precourt, he also "plans to announce local investors soon." Austin FC is the first pro franchise for the Texas capital in any of the Big Five major American sports leagues. Team officials "hope to break ground at the stadium site by September and are finalizing plans that would allow construction to begin on a training facility at a yet-to-be-named private site." Last year, Precourt made his intentions known to purchase the Columbus Crew with a clause that would eventually let him move to Austin. But that deal was basically scuttled by passionate Crew fans. Precourt’s biggest challenge in Austin: competing with rabid University of Texas fans, especially now that UT’s football team is once again on the rise.

The University of Texas athletic department had more than $219 million in "annual operating revenue and total operating expenses" of just over $206.5 million during FY 2018, according to USA Today. This is the second consecutive year in which UT has had more than $200 million in both "operating revenues and expenses," as UT was at nearly $215 million in revenue and $207 million in expenses for FY 2017. Comparatively, the University of Michigan reported spending $175.4 million in 2017, and the University of Alabama's "total athletics revenue" for FY 2018 was $177.5 million -- up from FY 2017's $174.3 million that was "then a school record," according to the Birmingham News. Texas A&M also reported more than $200 million in revenue in 2017, but that amount was boosted by almost $93 million in "contributions received and spent by the department during that year, as the school continued a facilities-spending boom." UT attributed this impressive revenue to the school's football program at $144.5 million, a total that was "more than the total athletics operating revenue reported" for FY 2017 by all but 12 NCAA D-I public schools.

New Jersey’s total 2018 sports betting handle reached $1.24 billion at casinos, racetracks, or through online or mobile betting platforms. However, the numbers "flattened out during December after a record-setting November in sports books around the state and online," according to the Asbury Park Press. The "total handle in the state fell" from $330.7 million in November to $319.2 million in December, a 3.5% decline. Gross revenues also "fell" from $21.2 million to $20.8 million. The Press of Atlantic City notes the opening of two "new casino properties, the introduction of legalized sports betting and the continuous growth of internet wagering all contributed to a total gaming revenue increase of nearly" 8% in New Jersey from 2017-2018. In December, the gaming industry generated $247.4 million in revenue, a nearly 20% increase from the same month in 2017. In December alone, more than $319 million was "bet on sports" in the state. The end of year downtick means there is even more scrutiny on producing big numbers off Super Bowl LIII next month.

Arsenal’s shirt sponsorship deal with Emirates is the most recognized in the Premier League among fans, according to a Europe-wide study by market research company Statista. The North London club’s partnership with the Dubai-based airline, which is reportedly worth $56 million annually, generated 78% awareness among the 3,000 fans who took part in the study. Southampton’s deal with telecommunications giant Virgin Media and Brighton & Hove Albion’s tie-up with American Express followed closely behind, with both partnerships being recognized by 75% of fans. Overall, the report revealed that shirt sponsors in English soccer’s top flight have an average awareness of 34% among fans. In total, 80% of Premier League fans expressed satisfaction with their club’s shirt sponsors, despite the growing condemnation of the prevalence of gambling companies, which account for almost half of the league’s shirt deals. Of the ten least liked sponsors, five were gambling firms, with each scoring less than 2% for likeability among supporters.

In Spain, more than seven million fans attended La Liga and second division matches during the first half of the 2018-2019 campaign, an increase of 602,372 on the previous season. La Liga and second division stadiums registered a total attendance of 7,520,225 in the first half of the current season. Never before had the number for the first half of a campaign reached the seven-million mark. La Liga matches drew 5,172,228 fans, while second division games drew 2,347,997. The average crowds during the first half of the season were 27,222 (La Liga) and 10,164 (second division). Like their Premier League counterparts, La Liga clubs have not been shy when exploring shirt sponsorship deals. The 2017 season saw Barcelona start a new front-of-shirt sponsorship deal with Japanese online retailer Rakuten, which agreed in November, 2016 to a four-year partnership worth $260 million. These numbers are likely to increase exponentially when this term soon expires.

Top Five Tech

The NHL has put chips on its players and pucks to create the ultimate stat tracking system. During the last two Vegas Golden Knights home games, players wore chips inside their shoulder pads and the puck was equally “teched up” to provide the most comprehensive data ever collected. According to Bloomberg, the league asked six tech companies spanning virtual reality to sports gambling to showcase possible uses for the data. Genius Sports and Swish Analytics built live gambling options from the data while Trigger Global, Beyond Sports, Vizrt, and WSC Sports used the data to create VR/AI models of the game that can range from putting you into the goalies’ perspective to projecting the small 3D arena on any surface. Later this week, the NHL plans to debut some of the technology at its All-Star Game. These companies could create OTT platforms broadcast from a player’s perspective, a sports gambling behemoth based off previously incalculable data, or even take a mixed approach to potentially beat out the NBA as the most technologically advanced sports league in the world.

CBS Sports HQ plans to livestream 30 hours of content for Super Bowl week. CBS Sports’ free sports streaming network will air more than 30 hours of live, original programming during the week of Super Bowl LIII, including daily shows from Radio Row starting January 28, on-site daily reports, ten hours of original pregame coverage on game day, post-game analysis, and highlights. According to Marketing Dive, programming will include "Off The Bench with Kanell and Bell," Pick 6 Rundown, Reiter's Block and CBS Sports HQ Extravaganza which is a Super Bowl pregame show featuring a competition between CBS Sports Digital crew and a mix of current and former NFL players every hour before kickoff. This year's Super Bowl will be streamed across more platforms than ever before including online, through the CBS app for connected TV devices, tablets, and mobile phones, and via the CBS All Access subscription service. This highlights the shift from TV networks investing more in their digital offerings to give fans more control of what and how they watch.

YouTube and La Liga Segunda agree to an international streaming deal. La Liga has announced that all matches from its second tier “Segunda Division” will be streamed for free on YouTube in a range of markets. According to SportsPro, the league's YouTube channel will provide live English commentary from this season's matches in more than 155 countries. The new agreement will take immediate effect and offer thousands who may have not had previous transmission access to part of the world of Spanish soccer for free. The YouTube arrangement will function in the U.S., Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas and in addition to the eleven matches broadcast from every game week, a 50-minute highlights show will also be provided on YouTube. Meanwhile, Spain will continue to broadcast through its rights holders beIN Connect, Orange, Telecable, Telefónica, and Sky. With more sports viewership happening online, and YouTube hosting 1.9 billion active monthly users, La Liga is hoping to spread its brand further into the global market with a potential for the first and third divisions to follow suit. 

Barstool Sports has rolled out a premium “Gold” Memberships that has racked up 10,000 paying subscribers in just three days. Out of the 10,000 + subscribers, the sports and pop culture blog claims that 81% signed up for the $100 annual subscription. According to Digiday, Barstool Gold is a tiered membership product that offers everything from exclusive content and merchandise, early access to events and office tours, and meet-ups with Barstool personalities. The lower tier costs roughly $1 per week and higher membership tier costs roughly $2 per week and comes with a few extra perks for diehard fans. The launch of Barstool Gold comes at a time when the company has grown to more than 130 employees. Today, commerce accounts for half of Barstool’s revenue, roughly 35%-40% coming from advertising, and the rest draws from emerging business areas including the Rough N’ Rowdy pay-per-views and other live events, as well as a growing licensing business based on Barstool-owned intellectual property. Although controversial, Barstool Gold is a way to insulate the publisher from external sports media giants who find the content too reckless and provide a platform for Barstool to make itself into a major player in the sports entertainment industry.

Fox is out of the bidding for Disney’s Regional Sports Networks. The new-model Fox Corp. will not bid in the auction of the 22 regional sports networks that Disney is set to buy from 21st Century Fox. Disney has to sell the local cable concerns to comply with terms of the agreement it reached with the Justice Department last year to clear the way for the $71.3 billion merger between Disney and 21st Century Fox set to close by early March. Fox Corp.’s decision to step away from bidding for the RSNs comes as competition is heating up. According to Variety, former NWA rapper Ice Cube said he was trying to assemble a bid for the group as part of the expansion of the Big3 basketball league he helped launch in 2017. Amazon, Tegna, and Sinclair Broadcast Group are also among the companies who have expressed interest in buying some or all of the channels. As the second round of bids are due at the end of this month, Fox might be dodging a bullet as the future of local sports may tumble into OTT video.

Power of Sports Five

Esports speedrun marathon Awesome Games Done Quick (AGDQ) 2019 raised over $2.39 million for charity. AGDQ is one of two speedrun marathons hosted by GamesDoneQuick every year that bring in thousands of viewers to watch all types of speedruns in the name of charity. This year the speedrun, which is completing part or all of a video as fast as possible, raised funds for the Prevent Cancer Foundation and more than 46,000 donations. To date, Awesome Games Done Quick and its companion event, Summer Games Done Quick, have raised more than $19 million for their respective charities while peak viewership of their most recent event reached 219,240 concurrent streams on Twitch. The next event by GDQ will be the Summer Games Done Quick (SGDQ) which runs June 23-30 in Bloomington, Minnesota. After the 131 games were speedrun, it is safe to say that both the viewership and donations from the world of esports continue to grow and GamesDoneQuick is at the forefront of the esport charity sector.

Israel awards Robert Kraft, the New England Patriots’ owner. Kraft was awarded Israel’s 2019 Genesis Prize in recognition of his philanthropy and commitment to combatting anti-Semitism. According to Fox Sports, the $1 million award, widely known as the “Jewish Nobel” prize, is granted each year to a person recognized as an inspiration to the next generation of Jews through professional achievement and commitment to Jewish values. Kraft grew up in an observant Jewish home and has been an outspoken supporter of Israel and has arranged trips for NFL Hall of Famers to the Holy Land. His prize money will be donated to initiatives combatting anti-Semitism and other forms of prejudices. Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to present Kraft the award in Jerusalem in June. Although a highly politicized region, both the Genesis Prize Foundation and Kraft want to prevent the award for philanthropy from becoming politicized. This award comes during a high point for Kraft, whose Patriots are once again in the hunt for a Super Bowl victory on the back of Tom Brady.

Travis Scott will perform at halftime during Super Bowl LIII but requires a charity donation from the NFL. Although Scott’s involvement in the halftime show was confirmed in December, a donation to a social justice cause was required for him to move forward. According to Complex, the rapper and the NFL are set to donate $500,000 to Dream Corps, which backs “initiatives that close prison doors and open doors of opportunity for all,” in addition to other charitable endeavors that Scott and the NFL will work on together. The league donation arrives after the recent launch of the NFL's “Inspire Change” initiative to create positive differences in underprivileged communities. The full halftime show lineup will include Maroon 5, Scott, and Big Boi. All involved in the production have received varying degrees of online backlash, as many fans have expressed that the league is squashing the rights of its players, such as in the case of Colin Kaepernick. All in all, the parties have put their differences aside to give back and create change off the field.

Detroit Lions owner Martha Ford joins forces with her team’s players to pledge $600,000 to community efforts. According to the Detroit Free Press, Ford and Lions’ players pledged a combined $600,000 to help launch the new "Detroit Lions Inspire Change" initiative around the city. The money will help fund three causes chosen by players in a process that was set in motion after eight Lions players took a knee during the singing of the national anthem in a 2017 game against the Falcons. A'Shawn Robinson, Jalen Reeves-Maybin, and Steve Longa are the three players who remain with the team after protesting social injustices. Their donations will help fund scholarships for three groups including families who've lost service members through the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS); a youth development arm of the Detroit Police Department called the Detroit Youth Violence Prevention Initiative (DYVPI); and students at Detroit Lions Academy. Additionally the funds will be used to provide clean drinking water in Detroit public schools, help the CATCH charity for children, and aid Mariners Inn for homeless men. Under "Detroit Lions Inspire Change," players will be able to directly take action for social justice initiatives. 

Low-A baseball affiliate of the Houston Astros Quad Cities River Bandits donate $100,000 to Genesis Health System. The River Bandits have one of the most robust charitable arms in all of minor league baseball thanks to proceeds from amusements at Modern Woodmen Park. The River Bandits’ recent donation to Genesis Health System comes from proceeds of tickets sold to the Genesis Kidz Koaster, along with a portion of proceeds from the ballpark’s Ferris wheel, Drop-N-Twist, spinning bumper cars, River Rocker, and kiddie train. According to Ballpark Digest, River Bandits owner Dave Heller presented $100,000 to Genesis Health System which will support several programs, including the Genesis neonatal intensive care unit, the Genesis Flu-Free Quad-Cities program, the Camp Genesis program, and the Genesis Family Connects program. The team's amusement park has brought both excitement and charity and with its continued success. Look for the park to keep delivering to charities in Davenport, Iowa.

[watchingthesuperbowl]

Grading Super Bowl XLIV

What was the final score?

New Orleans 31, Indianapolis 17

How much of the game was close? What was the “edge of your seat factor” like? (20 points)

Most of the game was close, including the vast majority of the second half. But it wasn’t that way the whole night. Indianapolis was clearly the better team in the first quarter, jumping out to a 10-0 lead and outgaining the Saints 147-36 in total yards. At the end of the first 15 minutes, the Saints had as many plays from scrimmage as the Colts had points.

The second quarter was completely the opposite. The Colts had two possessions in the period and they went three-and-out twice. New Orleans got its offense going, putting together two drives of 60+ yards but having to settle for two field goals. Indianapolis had a 10-6 halftime lead, but it was anybody’s guess who would win the game. Each team had played a dominant quarter and each had struggled for a quarter.

Indianapolis received the opening kickoff of the second half, at least nominally. Saints kicker Thomas Morstead stunned everybody by starting the third quarter with an onside kick, which New Orleans recovered. The Saints turned that trick play into a touchdown six plays later and had a 13-10 second half lead. Peyton Manning was having none of that, though. The Colts’ signal caller led his team on an emphatic 10 play, 76 yard touchdown drive to regain the lead 17-13. The Saints responded with a field goal on their next drive and it was Indianapolis 17, New Orleans 16 heading into the fourth quarter.

As the fourth quarter began, Manning put together what looked like a classic Peyton Manning drive, completing six of eight passes for 51 yards while steadily moving his team downfield. The Colts stalled at the New Orleans 33 and called on kicker Matt Stover to attempt a long field goal. Stover’s kick missed the target, which was damaging on two fronts for Indianapolis: Obviously, they had missed an opportunity to score points. But perhaps more importantly, getting the ball at the spot of the kick gave the Saints’ all-universe quarterback Drew Brees a short field and an opportunity to take a fourth quarter lead.

Truth be told, it might not have mattered how long the field was. Brees responded with one of the best drives of his career, completing all seven of his passes and capping off the drive with a short touchdown pass to tight end Jeremy Shockey. Having trailed for virtually the entire game, New Orleans was up 22-17 with less than six minutes remaining in the Super Bowl. That lead became 24-17 when Lance Moore just barely got the ball to the goal line on the ensuing two point conversion attempt. And I mean barely. Replays showed it was literally a matter of inches.

That made the objective of the next Colts drive crystal clear: Score a touchdown and force overtime. Without the two-point conversion, a touchdown would have won the game for Indianapolis, but the Colts were still in decent shape for a team trailing in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl. Their future Hall of Fame quarterback, already the owner of one Super Bowl ring, needed to lead them to a touchdown. Anything less meant losing on the sport’s biggest stage.

The game-deciding drive started about how you’d expect. A couple of completions to Pierre Garcon, then a couple more completions to Reggie Wayne, and the Colts were near the New Orleans 30 yard line with plenty of time and all three timeouts remaining. And then it happened. Saints cornerback Tracy Porter jumped in front of Reggie Wayne on a third down pass and went 74 yards the other way for a touchdown. That pick six just about sealed the deal for the Saints, giving them a 14 point lead with around three minutes left to play. Indianapolis threatened to score on its next possession, but turned the ball over on downs at the New Orleans 5 yard line. The Saints went into the victory formation, Drew Brees took a knee, and the Saints were Super Bowl XLIV champions. (Score: 15 out of 20)

Was there any kind of comeback? Was there ever any indication that the team which was trailing had a chance to come from behind and win? (15 points)

The Saints tied what was at the time the largest comeback in Super Bowl history, overcoming a ten-point deficit in order to hoist the Lombardi Trophy. It doesn’t feel like much of a comeback, though, when the best offense in football comes back from a 10-0 first quarter deficit.

As I mentioned earlier, the Colts had a chance to put together a comeback of their own, down seven points late in the fourth quarter. That comeback fell short, courtesy of a Tracy Porter pick six.

I’ll award points for the Saints’ comeback, such as it was, and for the Colts’ near-comeback. (Score: 10 out of 15)

Did the great players come through with great performances? (15 points)

There weren’t a ton of great players on the field, apart from the two legendary quarterbacks. I imagine that I hardly have to describe how good Brees and Manning were, but humor me on this. As of this writing, Manning is the NFL’s all-time career leader in passing yards with 71,940. Brees is third with 69,680 yards. Barring injury or retirement, Brees will almost certainly top 70,000 yards in the 2017 season and break Manning’s record in 2018.

So yeah, both quarterbacks were pretty good.

Both Brees and Manning had great performances in Super Bowl XLIV. Brees was named the MVP, completing more than 80 percent of his passes (32 of 39) for 288 yards and zero interceptions. Manning was 31 of 45 for 333 yards, a touchdown, and that one interception by Tracy Porter.

None of the other star players for either team blew the doors off the game, but all of them contributed in noticeable ways. Colts defensive end Dwight Freeney, playing on a badly injured leg, had the only sack of the game. Linebacker Jonathan Vilma led the Saints with seven tackles.  Colts running back Joseph Addai had 135 total yards and a score. Indianapolis receivers Dallas Clark (7 catches, 86 yards) and Reggie Wayne (5-46) were factors, as were their New Orleans counterparts Marques Colston (7-83) and Devery Henderson (7-63). Just about everyone you’d expect to contribute did so. (Score: 13 out of 15)

Were the teams historically great? (10 points)

The Colts were close, as I discussed a few weeks ago in the Super Bowl XLI writeup.

From a historical standpoint, the Saints are about a half-step behind Indianapolis. 2009 was only the third 10+ win season in 17 years for New Orleans. They went a combined 24-8 in 2010 and 2011, but have gone 7-9 in four of the five complete seasons since then. Generally speaking, the Saints of the Drew Brees-Sean Payton era have had a fantastic offense and a bad defense. Even in 2009, when they won the Super Bowl, New Orleans was 25th in the NFL in total yards allowed. That can win a bunch of games and even a Super Bowl, but that’s not a recipe for inner-circle greatness. (Score: 9 out of 10)

Were there memorable moments that will be talked about for decades? (10 points)

Two come to mind: The Morstead onside kick to start the second half and the Porter pick-six to ice the ballgame.

The onside kick to start the second half was the first successful onside kick outside the fourth quarter in Super Bowl history. It was a stroke of genius from a team that went into the game determined to be aggressive and to play to win instead of playing not to lose.

I’ve discussed the Porter interception above, but it was entirely unexpected, a lightning bolt to put an exclamation mark on a victory. The Colts, favored going into the game and marching downfield behind an all-time great quarterback, suddenly saw their championship hopes vanish in the blink of an eye. There have been relatively few plays in Super Bowl history where you immediately knew the game was over. This was one of them. (Score: 8 out of 10)

How was the quality of play? Were there a lot of penalties, punts, and turnovers? (15 points)

The quality of play was excellent. Both teams had their offenses up and running for most of the game and both quarterbacks played well. There were no fumbles at all in the game, and only one interception: The aforementioned Porter pick. Each team punted just twice, both teams protected their quarterbacks (Brees was sacked once, Manning not at all), and neither team hurt itself with penalties.

If you were disappointed with the quality of Super Bowl XLIV, you’re one of the harshest judges on Earth. This was a well-played game between two very good teams. (Score: 13 out of 15)

Are there any other factors that add to the greatness the game? This covers things like weather, story line, rivalry matchup, legacy franchises, unexpected results, etc. (15 points)

Two words: Hurricane Katrina.

This game came five years after one of the most horrific natural disasters in recent history, when the city of New Orleans was absolutely devastated by a direct hit from a massive hurricane. The storm caused an estimated $108 billion in damage and killed more than a thousand people. Much less importantly in human terms, but extremely importantly to this story, the almost unthinkable destruction left in the wake of Katrina forced the Saints out of New Orleans for a year. Half of the Saints’ home games were played 80 miles away in Baton Rouge, with three played in San Antonio, Texas and one played in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The Saints’ return to New Orleans in 2006 was an important milestone in the area’s recovery and strengthened the bond between city and football team. This Super Bowl championship was portrayed in some circles as a metaphor for the city of New Orleans overcoming adversity.

The game itself was a matchup of the two teams which were obviously the best in the NFL. New Orleans opened the season 13-0 and Indianapolis started with 14 wins in a row. The two teams featured two legendary quarterbacks at their peaks. This was the first Super Bowl in five years in which both teams had a first-round bye. (Score: 12 out of 15)

How does the game grade overall? (sum of all previous categories, 100 points)

80 out of 100. This was one of the ten greatest Super Bowls of all time, at least at the time it was played. XLIV is the only game in the top ten to be decided by more than one score, but it just as easily could have been the first Super Bowl to go to overtime. Actually, that was almost certainly more likely than a 14-point Saints win until Porter housed his interception.

I’ve seen reviews of this game that rate it as one of the five greatest Super Bowls ever played. I think that’s a bit too effusive, but not by much.

Ratings and rankings of Super Bowls I-XLIV:

1. Super Bowl XLII - New York Giants 17, New England 14 - 91 points T2. Super Bowl XIII - Pittsburgh 35, Dallas 31 - 87 points T2. Super Bowl XXXVIII - New England 32, Carolina 29 - 87 points 4. Super Bowl XXXVI - New England 20, St. Louis 17 - 86 points 5. Super Bowl XXIII - San Francisco 20, Cincinnati 16 - 85 points T6. Super Bowl XXV - New York Giants 20, Buffalo 19 - 84 points T6. Super Bowl XXXIV - St. Louis 23, Tennessee 16 - 84 points T8. Super Bowl X - Pittsburgh 21, Dallas 17 - 80 points T8. Super Bowl XLIX - New Orleans 31, Indianapolis 17 - 80 points 10. Super Bowl XXXII - Denver 31, Green Bay 24 - 77 points 11. Super Bowl VII - Miami 14, Washington 7 - 74 points 12. Super Bowl XLIII - Pittsburgh 27, Arizona 23 - 71 points 13. Super Bowl XXX - Dallas 27, Pittsburgh 17 - 69 points T14. Super Bowl IX - Pittsburgh 16, Minnesota 6 - 68 points T14. Super Bowl XXXI - Green Bay 35, New England 21 - 68 points T16. Super Bowl XVII - Washington 27, Miami 17 - 67 points T16. Super Bowl XXVIII - Dallas 30, Buffalo 13 - 67 points 18. Super Bowl XXXIX - New England 24, Philadelphia 21 - 66 points 19. Super Bowl XIV - Pittsburgh 31, Los Angeles 19 - 65 points 20. Super Bowl XVI - San Francisco 26, Cincinnati 21 - 62 points T21. Super Bowl XL - Pittsburgh 21, Seattle 10 - 61 points T21. Super Bowl XIX - San Francisco 38, Miami 16 - 61 points T23. Super Bowl III - New York Jets 16, Baltimore 7 - 58 points T23. Super Bowl XXII - Washington 42, Denver 10 - 58 points 25. Super Bowl XXI - New York Giants 39, Denver 20 - 57 points 26. Super Bowl XXVII - Dallas 52, Buffalo 17 - 55 points 27. Super Bowl XXXIII - Denver 34, Atlanta 19 - 53 points 28. Super Bowl VI - Dallas 24, Miami 3 - 52 points 29. Super Bowl XX - Chicago 46, New England 10 - 51 points T30. Super Bowl I - Green Bay 35, Kansas City 10 - 50 points T30. Super Bowl XXXVII - Tampa Bay 48, Oakland 21 - 50 points T30. Super Bowl XLI - Indianapolis 29, Chicago 17 - 50 points T33. Super Bowl XVIII - Los Angeles Raiders 38, Washington 9 - 49 points T33. Super Bowl XXIV - San Francisco 55, Denver 10 - 49 points 35. Super Bowl XXVI - Washington 37, Buffalo 24 - 48 points 36. Super Bowl VIII - Miami 24, Minnesota 7 - 47 points 37. Super Bowl XV - Oakland 27, Philadelphia 10 - 44 points 38. Super Bowl IV - Kansas City 23, Minnesota 7 - 43 points 39. Super Bowl XXXV - Baltimore 34, New York Giants 7 - 42 points T40. Super Bowl II - Green Bay 33, Oakland 14 - 40 points T40. Super Bowl V - Baltimore 16, Dallas 13 - 40 points 42. Super Bowl XXIX - San Francisco 49, San Diego 26 - 39 points 43. Super Bowl XII - Dallas 27, Denver 10 - 38 points 44. Super Bowl XI - Oakland 32, Minnesota 14 - 35 points