Obama at the Super Bowl?

News broke the President, a big time Chicago sports fan (who loves going to games at "Kaminsky Field"), said that if the Chicago Bears win the NFC Championship next Sunday, he will go to the Super Bowl! The game will be played in Dallas at Cowboys Stadium on February 6.

Over the past 45 years, the Super Bowl has grown into a cultural phenomenon and is the most watched sporting event every year. Ratings are huge, advertisers spend millions on air time during the game, ticket prices are expensive and the host city is a major destination during the two weeks leading up to the game. Everyone wants to be involved in the Super Bowl and sitting presidents realize this, as they know the extra headaches their attendance will cause at the game between greater security and the inconvenience a presidential visit will cause to the fans. It is for this reason they stay in the White House or Camp David to watch the game.

The Super Bowl this year is being played in the largest NFL Stadium in the US (over 100,000 fans will be in Cowboys Stadium on game day) and for the price the fans are paying to attend that game, the level of inconvenience will be higher than ever. The media will likely focus less on the game and more on the president and what he is doing during the game, which will inconvenience the fans watching, especially those rooting for the Jets or Green Bay (or Pittsburgh and Chicago). Furthermore, with the president attending, the Super Bowl will an even bigger target to terrorists or those wishing to do the United States harm. (We can hearken back to The Sum of All Fears, as we see an executive visit to the Super Bowl didn't go well...and yes, I realize that is a movie, but we are living in a post-9/11 era.)

The president must realize that the Super Bowl is about the players who have reached the apex of their sport, the fans who are in attendance or watching from home, and not about himself. Even more important is the safety of the president, players, and the fans. It is for that reason, President Obama should scratch this crazy idea and instead, watch his Bears (assuming they win) from the comfort of the White House theater. Yet if he does go, we pray for everyone's safety in Dallas on February 6!

UPDATE, 1/23/10: It's safe to say President Obama will not be attending the Super Bowl, as his Chicago Bears lost to the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship.