NFL wants artists to pay to perform at Super Bowl halftime show

[coredumped]

Musicians typically don't get paid for playing at the NFL's Super Bowl halftime show. Having 115.3 million people watch your performance is payment enough, really. But this year the NFL is using the big game's unrivaled power of exposure to its advantage — or at least trying to, according to The Wall Street Journal. The league has apparently whittled its list of potential acts down to three: Coldplay, Rihanna, and Katy Perry. (Sorry, Weird Al fans.) But when approaching representatives for each artist with the good news, the NFL reportedly made an unprecedented request. It's asked three of pop music's most popular performers whether they'd "willing to contribute a portion of their post-Super Bowl tour income to the league, or if they would make some other type of financial contribution" to headline the 2015 halftime show.
Whichever act agrees to hand over cash would presumably have better odds of being chosen

Full article:
http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/19/6045957/nfl-wants-artists-pay-to-play-at-super-bowl-halftime-show

[spuwho]

Musicians typically don't get paid for playing at the NFL's Super Bowl halftime show. Having 115.3 million people watch your performance is payment enough, really. But this year the NFL is using the big game's unrivaled power of exposure to its advantage — or at least trying to, according to The Wall Street Journal. The league has apparently whittled its list of potential acts down to three: Coldplay, Rihanna, and Katy Perry. (Sorry, Weird Al fans.) But when approaching representatives for each artist with the good news, the NFL reportedly made an unprecedented request. It's asked three of pop music's most popular performers whether they'd "willing to contribute a portion of their post-Super Bowl tour income to the league, or if they would make some other type of financial contribution" to headline the 2015 halftime show.
Whichever act agrees to hand over cash would presumably have better odds of being chosen

Full article:
http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/19/6045957/nfl-wants-artists-pay-to-play-at-super-bowl-halftime-show

I understand why they think they can do it, but that doesn't make it right.

Playing for exposure is one thing, paying to get exposure is something else.

Seems Goodell has been watching "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" too much.

[ben says]

Sometimes we like to forget the NFL is a business. The bottom line for a business is profit. Right verses wrong rarely comes into play when making a final decision on a bottom line. The NFL is not the Red Cross.

[vicupstate]

Sometimes we like to forget the NFL is a business. The bottom line for a business is profit. Right verses wrong rarely comes into play when making a final decision on a bottom line. The NFL is not the Red Cross.

So true. Business ethics is an oxymoron.

I hope the chosen artist  does pay up, otherwise the host city taxpayers will get another poke in the rear.   

[ben says]

So true. Business ethics is an oxymoron.

I hope the chosen artist  does pay up, otherwise the host city taxpayers will get another poke in the rear.

+1

[spuwho]

Sometimes we like to forget the NFL is a business. The bottom line for a business is profit. Right verses wrong rarely comes into play when making a final decision on a bottom line. The NFL is not the Red Cross.

There is nothing wrong with profit. No arguments there. I was thinking along the lines of greed in this case.

Selling halftime to the highest bidder has twinges of payola to me.

And what happens if Warren Buffet is the top bidder? George Soros? Do they simply sit in an easy chair at the 50 and tell stories while fireworks and flashbulbs go off?

What if the Islamic Republic of Iran would like to buy the halftime out with a years supply of oil? Preposterous, yes, but where does it end?

[FSBA]

The day is coming you'll either have to buy a season pass or pay a la carte just to use the bathroom at a stadium.

[ben says]

Sometimes we like to forget the NFL is a business. The bottom line for a business is profit. Right verses wrong rarely comes into play when making a final decision on a bottom line. The NFL is not the Red Cross.

There is nothing wrong with profit. No arguments there. I was thinking along the lines of greed in this case.

Selling halftime to the highest bidder has twinges of payola to me.

And what happens if Warren Buffet is the top bidder? George Soros? Do they simply sit in an easy chair at the 50 and tell stories while fireworks and flashbulbs go off?

What if the Islamic Republic of Iran would like to buy the halftime out with a years supply of oil? Preposterous, yes, but where does it end?

Not to get too nitpicky, but capitalism demands greed. Greed is a byproduct of capitalism. If the whole point of the system is to maximize profit, without thinking about right and wrong, you've just entered the realm of greed - why? Because there is no stopping point to maximizing profit. It's all about grow grow grow until....? I think you answered your own question "where does it end" ..

Qatar bought the World Cup so I wouldn't be surprised if Iran bought the halftime show.