The Big Price for the Big Game!

Last Saturday, just over a week before the Superbowl, Jen and I decided to drive around downtown to see all the festivities leading up to the Big Game. We were not entirely sure if we were going to walk around with our daughter because she is fighting a double ear infection. But after seeing the crowd and the $40 parking we decided a drive would suffice.

This quick drive down town was anything but quick with a myriad of cars and people colliding together in wonderment and amazement as stores were remodeled, streets temporarily renamed, tents put up and concerts blaring all in preparation for a 3 hour game on a Sunday Evening. In fact, it is estimated to fly from New York ( if a Giants fan) or the Boston area (if a Patriots fan), to get a hotel (minimum three nights reservation is required in Indianapolis and Indianapolis area), plus tickets, and food will cost on average $6,300. That is $2,100 per hour for a three hour game!!!

Now I like football, and I like the Superbowl, and I am downright giddy that the world’s most expensive money making product is in my own city, but there is something uneasy about the numbers involved here. I often like to think in terms of Worldvision, an organization that helps children in developing nations receive sponsor from other countries for about $30 a month to help pay for food, school, and health care. For the price tos go to the biggest football game of the year, you could sponsor a child to go to school, have sufficient food every day, and receive medicine for 210 months, or 17 years and six months.

There is nothing wrong with spending money, and there is nothing wrong with going to the Superbowl. Not everything we spend money on must go to a charity or church. With officials saying there will be approximately 68,000 seats available that means present spectators will have spent at least $428.4 million dollars.  Those who are attending the game are spending as much money as it would cost to feed, educate, and vaccinate over 66,100 kids for 18 years!!! If you account the 3.5 million dollars per 30 seconds a commercial cost during the game, the money gambled, the food wasted, the cost of the teams and other bands and entertainment, we could easily provide over 100,000 children means to learn, eat, and be healthy until they reach adulthood in one single day!!!

I am not saying we should get rid of the Super Bowl. But if we as humanity are really serious about ending starvation, increasing opportunities in education, and eliminating preventable illnesses, should we not be able to easily raise so much in one day to impact so many lives for so long, as we spend for a 3 hour football game? If we really want to change the world we really have to look at first changing ourselves. We cannot live our lives with such misguided priorities and think we will escape.

In the Parable of the Talents the master rewards two servants for using money faithfully. The master says “well done good and faithful servant you have been faithful with little now you will be entrusted with much” but to the servant who is not faithful he says “you lazy and wicked servant...” What will Jesus say about our resources, will we be faithful?