Now, this, my friends, is chutzpah with a capital “C”.
Rihanna, Katy Perry, or Coldplay might be doing the Super Bowl halftime show this year—that is, if they’re willing to pay up. According to The Wall Street Journal, the NFL has narrowed down its list of potential performers for the 2015 gig to those three candidates, though it’s also asking “at least some of the acts” if they’d be willing to pay the league for the privilege of playing the halftime show—something that’s absolutely insane, but not 100 percent unreasonable, considering how many people actually watch the performance. Alternately (and this is where it gets wacky), they should “be willing to contribute a portion of their post-Super Bowl tour income to the league.” [Emphasis added.]
As Eric Loomis wonders, it’s not that far from there to asking for a cut of their players’ promotional deals.
It strikes me that Steve Patterson is missing the boat on this one. The NFL should inspire him. Instead of drawing a firm line in the sand against student-athlete compensation, he ought to insist on paying college players a little something now in return for a piece of their future earnings. See how much Johnny Football winds up liking them apples!
Get The Picture 
Sure. Sounds like the only patriotic things these acts could do.
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Katy Perry is hot.
With that out of the way, the line about asking for a cut of players’ sponsorships and such was intriguing
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This reminds me of that scene in Goodfellas: “So now he’s gotta come up with Paulie’s money every week…”
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Slow week at the club? “Fuck you, pay me”
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In the immortal words of that “other” Bluto: “Holeeeeey Sh$t!”
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God, music is terrible these days.
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God, (popular) music is terrible these days. FTFY.
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Katy Perry is legit, I don’t care what you curmudgeons say. Notwithstanding that, there does seem to be a lot of garbage on the radio
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Agreed.
I don’t listen to pop music on purpose, but I’ve heard her sing enough to know she’s got pipes. Then I saw a pic and realized she has more than pipes.
For that matter, Rihanna can sing and is also smokin’ hot, though tragically crazy.
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Isn’t this what advertisers do? They pay (believing it’s an investment that will increase future revenue)…and they entertain, somewhat.
But if they do this, they have to give more liberty to the performers…if, for instance, Katy decides to show us her tits, it’s an investment.
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this is the kind of forward thinking that makes America a great place, in my opinion. Artistic freedom!!!!!
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“Katy decides to show us her tits, it’s an investment”
From your lips to God’s ears uglydawg
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Maybe Katy Perry should ask Roger for a cut of NFL future income due to all the eyeballs she’s going to draw to the broadcast beyond football fans.
Someone will actually go for this, I’m sure, but if you’re a top level music star, you could afford to tell Roger to stick a kazoo up his colon and play that for the halftime show.
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Alternatively more and more we become the land of the highest and lowest bidders. Always with the costs and profits, never mind the value and quality.
Whoaa What’s that smell? The smell of Human Behavior at the top o the Corporate ladder. Beware the Ides of RedPanties say I…
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If I were any of these artists I’d tell the NFL to go #$&% themselves–the NFL needs them not the other way around Seems to me Goodell shouldn’t get to beat up on any of these artists–but if he does…its got to be Rihanna–amirite!?!?
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Not so sure.
I’ve read that the itunes and online pirating have made royalty checks obsolete for music artists and that the huge money is now made by the world tours by top artists.
Consequently, Katy, Rihanna or Coldplay wants to reach a max audience so that when they play at the Georgia Dome they sell 30,000 tickets plus t-shirts and those stupid glow thingies.
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I understand how they make money…some of my favorite acts hardly sell albums at all–it is all touring. These 3 acts are already known quantities. While I have never been overly impressed with an 80 minute Coldplay show–the ones that I have seen have been full. Sadly, I’d think Coldplay would be the smallest draw of the 3–without the added publicity of the Super Bowl. We are not talking about American Idol where the show creates the fans/audience for the “idols” and then owns them for 5 or 10 years. These folks already have an audience.
Plus–I have never once seen a halftime show that sold me on an act I wasn’t already sold on. With few exceptions, the halftime show is always garbage. I leave disappointed in the bands that I already love…the sound is always shit and they always seems to be trying too hard (remember when the Boss slid across the stage into a camera ramming his crotch into the inside of America’s tv screens?)
The only one that worked was the U2 tribute after 9-11. I started listening to them again/more after that. Prince almost worked too.
Also–I am not going to a concert in the Georgia Dome Ever.
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Ah come on, you’re telling me you don’t like a Rap/Rock/Country/Soul combo show starring 50 Cent, Aerosmith, Alan Jackson and Bryan McKnight?
Bullfeathers!
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My guess is that an up and coming artist will jump at the chance in order to break through from playing smaller venues to get the arena level. The only way artists can may any true money is by touring now. Royalty rates in the digital music age are pathetic.
Also, my guess is that the NFL decided that an artist who has “paid” for the privilege of playing the Super Bowl halftime show might be more flexible on the other logistical details. One could certainly see established artists like The Boss, Jagger or Beyonce being a bit more firm with their requirements to play halftime.
It will only take one artist to say yes and have it work out for them before it will become the standard for the NFL. However, if a bunch of really good artists say no, the halftime entertainment sucks and those who pay for the Super Bowl appearance say they were ripped off, the NFL will have some egg on its face.
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I was typing the same thing above, great minds think alike.
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Agreed.
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