Super Bowl drives NFL's rising revenues

February 02, 2007 At a time of increasing audience fragmentation, the Super Bowl remains television's single-largest attraction, making it a darling not just of the networks that air the game but of advertisers who this year are reportedly forking over as much as $2.6 million to CBS to run a 30-second spot during the game. For a sports league with only 17 weeks of regular-season games, that kind of earning prowess certainly puts it in the same arena as many major entertainment companies. "The Super Bowl is much more than a football game; it's a cultural, social and to the business world an economic phenomenon," NFL senior vp consumer products and marketing Lisa Baird says.

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