Travelling 'circuit girls' flock to Super Bowl in search of clients
CHRIS KAHN
Associated Press

Phoenix - Every year before the Super Bowl, Tammie Miller would gather her chinchilla coat and hop in a limo with her pimp. The host city, wherever it was, always offered a better supply of men than the lonesome highway in Long Beach, Calif., where she usually worked.
Miller was what's known as a "circuit girl,'' a travelling escort who, like any good entrepreneur, knows where the market is hot.
"We were in hotel lobbies, or out in front of the stadiums - wherever there were major amounts of people,'' said the 37-year-old Miller, who quit the business two years ago.
This year, Arizona authorities have stepped up patrols, promising to sweep out circuit girls and their pimps before Sunday's Super Bowl. But if the women are any good, Miller said, police won't see them.
"They had no idea what I was doing,'' she said.
Circuit girls are part of a clandestine sex trade that depends on their ability to blend with the wealthy. Unlike local street hookers, they'll navigate the high-dollar crowd with ease, tapping men on the shoulder with little more than an innocent suggestion on their lips.
"I would walk up to them and ask them directions or some kind of help,'' Miller said.
In Jacksonville, Fla., which hosted the Super Bowl in 2005, Roy Henderson, chief of narcotics in the Jacksonville sheriff's department, said his officers arrested about a dozen circuit girls after staff at one of the city's major hotels called to complain.
"I don't know if you can spot them,'' Henderson said. "A lot of times they're very attractive.
"They dress well, where typically your street walker is in blue jeans, flannel shirt, rough looking. Those are the ones we're picking up time and time again.''
Henderson said policing prostitution at the Super Bowl clearly is not as important as monitoring security threats, but several officers will be assigned nevertheless. And he warns his counterparts in cities about to host the big game to be on the lookout.
"A lot of girls are advertising on the Internet, and it's a limited customer base that these girls had,'' Henderson said. "But you want to protect the innocent folks who don't want to be bothered by these individuals.''
The Phoenix area, which already is known among hookers as a lucrative stop in the winter because of the snowbirds, is expected to be irresistible to sex workers this year.
The Fiesta Bowl already brought thousands of football fans to the region at the beginning of January. And the Super Bowl was preceded by the Barrett Jackson car show and will be played on the final day of the FBR Open golf tournament, both major draws for wealthy, vacationing men.
"It's a big deal this year,'' said Tammy Marie Pagel, a 31-year-old local hooker who was recently jailed in Phoenix but was scheduled to be released the week before the Super Bowl.
Pagel said she had a number of high-paying clients waiting. She counted them on her fingers: one from Colorado, one from Massachusetts, one from Florida, one from Tennessee.
The johns saw her ad on the Craigslist website and set up appointments before setting foot in Arizona, Pagel said. Each will pay US$500 to $600 for an hour with her - several times what she typically charges.
Authorities don't know how many circuit girls typically descend on a Super Bowl city. But Phoenix police Sgt. Joel Trantor said officers will be ready for them.
"We're going after the prostitutes, the people that pander to prostitutes - the pimps - as well as the johns,'' Trantor said. "We're going to combat this from every angle.''
Prostitutes who get caught face between 15 and 180 days in jail in Phoenix, depending on how many offences they have on their record.
Miller said it didn't occur to her to leave the circuit until police arrested her a few years ago.
Some turn to Super Bowl for their biggest touchdowns of the year
"I was addicted to the adrenaline I got from it,'' she said. "The adrenaline of getting in and out of cars.
"The adrenaline of being one step ahead of the cops. The adrenaline of, How much money can I make tonight?''
Miller laughs now when she thinks what she used to be. A black embroidered cardigan and turtle neck have replaced the street clothes. She's removed her pimp's initials - gold letters "M'' and "V'' - from her front teeth. People used to call her "Miss Envy.''
"A lot of my life is really fuzzy to me because of all the drugs I was doing,'' she said. "But of course it changed me.''
Miller became a travelling circuit girl in her early 20s, after a pimp kidnapped her while she was working the streets of west Phoenix. The pimp - his name is Vinnie - stopped the car in Long Beach and told her to "get to work'' as one of his 13 girls.
"He had a different girl for different things,'' Miller said. "Like one would travel.
"If there was a trick that came from out of state and he'd call and he'd want her to come see him, (Vinnie) would fly that person out.'' Some of Vinnie's girls would just walk along the highway.
"And me . . . I was what he called his 'bottom,' which meant I was his top girl,'' she explained. "I bathed him; I clothed him. Everything.''
Every summer, Miller said, Vinnie planned their circuit. Miller would pick one of the top earners from Vinnie's girls, and the three would hit the road. There would be stops in Fresno, Calif., and in Las Vegas. They'd arrive at the Super Bowl city three days before the game.
At times, Miller said, she felt rich. She gave all her money to Vinnie, but he bought her things. She had a Mercedes and wore fancy clothes. She lived in a beach house.
"That was like an incentive for us to stay,'' she said. "Oh, we get all these nice clothes. We get these nice things.''
But as she got older, Miller said she prayed to get out of the business. She had four children, and she was tired of turning tricks. But her pimp wouldn't let her leave. He beat her with coat hangers and shoes.
Miller said it wasn't until police arrested her a few years ago that she mustered the strength to get away. She thought Vinnie loved her, but he left her in jail for two months.
"I was just so crushed that he let me sit,'' she said. "It hurt me so bad. This guy is like everything to me. My whole world.''
That was when Miller said she found the DIGNITY House, a Phoenix-based rehabilitation program founded by a former prostitute and run by Catholic Charities in Arizona. The agency helped her find a job and put her up in a house.
With DIGNITY, Miller said she found her salvation. After two years, she is so free from the lifestyle that she hardly remembers the street words she used to sling back and forth with other hookers.
When she bumped into her pimp recently at a gas station, she did what she never could do before: She stood her ground.
"He came up and tapped me on the shoulder and said, 'Hey, I'm going to California. Are you ready?' And I said 'You know what, look, I'm not the person I used to be. I'm getting married, I don't need you.'''

Branding: The universalization of particularization (see Idol, American; Cola, Coca-)
The World's Most Valuable Sporting Event Brands
Peter J. Schwartz

The world's most popular sport may be soccer, but in cold, hard dollars, nobody throws a party like the National Football League.
The NFL's Super Bowl tops Forbes' first list of the world's most valuable sporting events brands, worth $379 million. Following the Super Bowl were the Summer Olympics ($176 million) and soccer's World Cup ($103 million).
Our proprietary list of sporting event brand valuations was compiled by adding up television rights fees (or advertising revenues for events like Major League Baseball's World Series, where the fee for the championship games is not broken out from the regular season or other postseason games), sponsorship revenue from signage inside the stadium, ticket receipts and licensing revenue.
In Pictures: Most Valuable Sporting Event Brands
We then divided this amount by the number of days of competition. (Note: For the NCAA's March Madness, we only considered revenues for the Final Four bracket, for comparability to championship series in other sports.)
Why is the Super Bowl so valuable? Commercial inventory for last year's game on ABC--owned by the Walt Disney Co.--amounted to $154 million, based on a record $2.5 million commercial rate for 30 seconds of airtime. Sprint Nextel paid $12 million to sponsor halftime, a figure that is expected to be topped by PepsiCo when the Colts play the Bears in Super Bowl XLI on Sunday.
The Super Bowl's licensing program generated a record $140 million, with the largest share coming from Reebok, owned by German apparel maker Adidas. And thanks to an average ticket price of $613, gate receipts provided $31 million in revenue (net of the 25% of the tickets the NFL gives to the media, sponsors and league affiliates).
In terms of total revenue, next summer's Olympics will rake in more than any other sporting event, $3 billion. The Beijing games will leverage their global audience with $1.7 billion from broadcasters, a record for the Olympics.
But because the Olympics cover 17 days, its brand value is $203 million less than the Super Bowl.
The International Olympic Committee is using the Summer Games' popularity to enhance the value of the Winter Games, which are ranked seventh on our list with a value of $82 million. As part of the Olympic Committee's international sponsorship program, all companies based outside of the host country must sponsor the Winter Games as a prerequisite to sponsoring the summer event two years later.
Once considered almost exclusively a sport of the U.S. South, stock car racing has become the second most popular sport in the country. Worth $91 million, NASCAR's Daytona 500 is our fourth most valuable brand.
Last year's race took home $47 million from broadcaster Fox, which is owned by News Corp. Despite the lack of a truly international audience, NASCAR's top race garners four times the revenue of rival Formula 1's fabled Monaco Grand Prix.
Perhaps the biggest surprise on our list is an annual college football game. The Rose Bowl Game ranked No. 5, ahead of the NCAA Men's Final Four, the World Series and the NBA finals, with a value of $88 million.
The Rose Bowl is traditionally a contest where the Big 10 and Pac 10 champions battle it out, and its value is due in large part to its eight-year, $300 million contract with ABC. Even though sportscaster Keith Jackson, who became a legend with his famous play-by-play of the Rose Bowl, has retired, the game still remains the granddaddy of all college bowl games.

"Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket."

- George Orwell

First-time advertisers get Super Bowl kick
GRANT ROBERTSON

Researchers at the University of Colorado believe they have discovered an uptick in stock prices that happens a few weeks before kickoff each year, which is directly related to the companies who buy advertising.

A study of the stock prices for 279 publicly traded companies between 1989 and 2003 has revealed that, on average, companies who don't normally buy commercials during the Super Bowl get an unexplained bump in their stock price when they wade into the advertising spectacle.
Many of the returns won't make investors rich, but some of the jumps are significant. Across the entire field of companies studied, news that a company is spending big cash on a Super Bowl ad leads to an average increase of 1 per cent in the stocks, the study found. However, some companies have seen bigger increases of nearly 15 per cent.

Once the regular fluctuations over the previous 90 days are removed from the stock price, the trend becomes evident enough to suggest the game plays a role in the psychology of investors, said Eric Hughson, a finance professor at the University of Colorado who worked on the study.
"For companies whose advertising announcements are not expected, those firms experience positive stock price reactions on average," Mr. Hughson said. "It's not the most gigantic thing you've ever seen [for some]. But I would say it's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick."

The report -- titled Touchdown or Fumble -- is an attempt to determine the value of a Super Bowl ad beyond the direct impact of a commercial on consumer behaviour. More U.S. households tune into the game than any other sporting event and a 30-second spot on CBS this year costs $2.6-million (U.S.).

In the past, several non-regular advertisers have enjoyed increases during the two-day period after their plans for a Super Bowl commercial were announced, Mr. Hughson said. Reebok International Ltd. rose 5.1 per cent in 1992, while E*Trade Group Inc. jumped 14.7 per cent in the dot-com boom of 1999. However, regular advertisers such as PepsiCo Inc. and Anheuser-Busch Cos., don't experience any Super Bowl bump.

Market watchers are skeptical though. One New York analyst who follows Coca-Cola Co. said he doesn't expect to see any meaningful movement in the stock even though the soft-drink giant is returning to the Super Bowl after an eight-year advertising hiatus. "It's not fundamentally driven," said the analyst, who spoke about the report on condition of anonymity. "I certainly wouldn't look at something like that."

The results this year are mixed. Coke's shares were flat in the two days after its announcement. However, Cadbury Schweppes, which bought ads for its Snapple drink brand this year, got a 1.5-per-cent bump during the same period after its campaign was unveiled. The shares have since climbed 6.2 per cent. First-time advertiser King Pharmaceuticals Inc., a manufacturer of blood-pressure drugs, gained 3.1 per cent over the first two days after the news, while Gamin Ltd., a maker of GPS equipment, rose 2.3 per cent.

A costly Super Bowl week fashion faux pas by Urlacher
Associated Press

CHICAGO — Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher was fined $100,000 by the NFL for wearing a cap during Super Bowl media day that promoted a sponsor not authorized by the league.
NFL rules prohibit gear that advertises any product but a designated sponsor, league spokesman Brian McCarthy said Wednesday.
Urlacher was fined for drinking vitaminwater and wearing a vitaminwater hat during the media session in Miami leading to the title game. Gatorade is the NFL's official drink.
McCarthy said this is the first time such a fine has been levied. He added that $100,000 is the standard fine for such a violation at the Super Bowl. A violation during the regular season is $10,000. It is $50,000 at the Pro Bowl.
The fine recalls an episode involving Chicago quarterback Jim McMahon in the playoffs following the 1985 season, the previous time the Bears made the Super Bowl.
McMahon wore a headband that said "adidas" in a playoff game against the New York Giants, and then-commissioner Pete Rozelle fined him $5,000 because the shoe company was not an NFL sponsor. The following week, in the NFC title game against the Los Angeles Rams, McMahon wore a headband that read "rozelle."

"Janet Jackson's 'wardrobe malfunction' was so crass and so sleazy that Fox television is launching its own investigation why they didn't do it first."

- Craig Kilborn

Debunking the billion-viewers myth
WILLIAM HOUSTON
Globe and Mail

CBS’s Sunday morning Face the Nation will be based at Dolphin Stadium. CBS will provide six hours of pregame programming, starting at noon on Sunday. Features will include Randy Cross reporting from Baghdad on a flag football game involving U.S. troops.

The Super Bowl audience
The 1967 game (Green Bay Packers-Kansas City Chiefs) drew 51.2 million viewers. However, CBS's 1967 rating (percentage of households tuned in) was 41.1, not far off last year's 41.6 for ABC's telecast.

Cost of Commercials
In 1967, a 30-second spot fetched $40,000 (all figures U.S.) — $245,000 when adjusted for inflation. This year, CBS is charging a record $2.6-million.
Super Bowl's Greatest Commercials will be on tonight at 9pm (CBS)

# of countries
It will be aired in 232 countries and territories by 54 international broadcasters in 33 languages.
# of cameras
Dolphin Stadium will be loaded with HDTV cameras, 47 in total, compared with the 18 to 20 that are used for a National Football League playoff game. Included will be two goal-post cameras, robotic cameras near the coaches, two in the broadcast booth, one on a tower atop a CBS building in Miami and four in the hallways near the locker rooms. A new lighting system will assimilate the existing lights in the stadium to produce a clearer HDTV picture. The CBS broadcast crew will number 500.

# of viewers
The Super Bowl does not draw a worldwide TV audience of one billion.
According to SportsBusiness Daily, last year's game (Pittsburgh Steelers-Seattle Seahawks) was watched by 98 million viewers, 90.7 million of whom were in the United States. (In Canada, Global Television drew 4.28 million.)
The World Cup soccer final (Italy-France) led 2006 sports audiences with 260 million. The Turin Olympics' opening ceremony drew 87 million. Barcelona-Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League final had 86 million.

NFL: Violence followed by committee meetings

Miami turning up the hoopla: This is no week for a funeral, Fidel
Dave Perkins

Fidel Castro had better not go and die this week. That would just be the height of selfishness because this is Super Bowl Week and there's too much going on without dropping a great big pep rally celebrating the Cuban leader's expiration into the middle of a jammed-full schedule.
Officially, the city of Miami, dominated by the culture and presence of its vast Cuban-American population, has a secret committee to plan an "Event at the Orange Bowl."
The city's website says it will follow "in case expected events occur in Cuba.'' With poor old Fidel trying to die, you know what they're talking about.
The city says it still is deciding on the official wording for the officially licenced T-shirts and which musicians and speakers will take part.
It promises a hip-shaking good time and there you are: Some municipalities use tax dollars to subsidize billion-dollar professional sports organizations and some spend them to encourage dancing for the demise of dictators.
Anyway, Fidel was kind enough to not disrupt yesterday's official activities.
There was, for instance, VISA USA's "Financial Football," in which "NFL players help South Florida high school students take control of their financial futures" by introducing them to a computer game to teach sound money-management skills.
Wait a minute. Pro athletes are going to do this? Without their agents around? These guys know less about money management than a 15-year-old crack dealer.
These kids should run for their lives.
Next came the Host Committee jabbering about the alleged $400 million (U.S.) in economic activity a Super Bowl brings, then the NFL brought in a few Chicago Bears for the usual bumpf and guess what? The Bears don't get any respect.
That was plenty for a Monday, particularly with both Flagler and Hollywood dog tracks open.
Today is the annual "media day" at the stadium. It's ridiculous and it'd be fine to ditch it for a Castro farewell, but timing is everything, right?
Hundreds of reporters of varying degrees of levity descend on the Bears and Colts and ask them questions. Some are serious, but the hour for each team is dominated by clowns wearing costumes who ask things – as a guy did a few years ago to one of the Patriots' lineman – such as, "Did you ever fart and blame the dog?"
It's a waste of time, but it fills the day until the first Media Party and last time we convened in Miami, they had a decent horn band, great food and little old Cuban guys hand-rolling cigars.
Outstanding, but, alas, one to a customer. So your servant drafted TV guys and total strangers to the cause and departed with many Churchills and a couple of robustos.
Those were the days.
Tomorrow, it's more sessions with the players – Prediction: The Colts will pretend they're not favourites and also play the no-respect card – and then it's the NFL Experience Built By Home Depot Kids' Day. We can't miss this, whatever it is. Next up is FedEx Air & Ground NFL Players of the Year introduction, followed by Motorola Coach of the Year unveiling. Then it's the Quarterback Challenge "with representatives from the Cayman Islands" and shouldn't these Cayman Islands people be the ones giving out the financial advice to high schoolers?
The night is capped by a Broward County Media Party at Gulfstream Park and let's hope they fix a race for us to bet on. Yes, Wednesday could be a good one.
Thursday we get more players and then the Diet Pepsi Rookie of The Year announcement. Next is a Cirque du Soleil press conference. Aren't they mimes? And then it's the national anthem press conference with Billy Joel and the halftime palaver with Prince.
At night, we have the NFL Charities Celebrity Bowling Classic at Strike Miami in Dolphin Mall. It costs $750 to bowl with former players.
No, that damn Fidel had better not mess this up.