Las Vegas is the perfect setting for the Super Bowl, where the vainglorious NFL establishment gathers to bask in its own monied self-congratulation
What happens in Vegas does not stay in Vegas anymore.
What happens in Vegas — the gambling, the indulgence, the pretense, the vulgarity, the clapped-out celebrity carnival — has long since broken out of the desert and slithered across the fruited plain in amber waves of greed.
Las Vegas is thus the perfect setting for the Super Bowl, where the vainglorious NFL establishment gathers to bask in its own monied self-congratulation every February. The NFL owners are America’s homegrown equivalent of FIFA and the International Olympic Committee, wealthier to be sure, but generally of the same exploitative character.
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The Roman numerals of the Super Bowl logo are a nod to the new imperial class, heirs to the Caesars who occupied the prime seats in the Colosseum. Caesars Palace in Las Vegas boasts its own Colosseum. The NFL has luxury boxes far more opulent than what the Colosseum offered, and now Taylor Swift drops by to discuss various modes of providing circuses for a decadent culture.
The tourism slogan, “What Happens Here, Stays Here,” has Super Bowl roots. Vegas emerged as a somewhat seedy locale — Sin City — in the 1960s, when gambling and prostitution enjoyed less social esteem than they do now. It was a place congenial to the criminal underworld and boxing promoters, the two groups not being mutually exclusive.
There are limits to that appeal, though, so in search of a broader market, Vegas tried becoming family friendly. Circus Circus, the first “family oriented” casino, added an amusement park in the 1990s and you could stay there in an RV.
Family friendly never really took off, so fantasy was the next step. Paris Las Vegas, complete with replica Eiffel Tower, was added in 1999. It is also possible to visit Rio and Venice on the Strip. Faux-foreign travel proved to be a hit, and then Celine Dion and Elton John took up residence. It was all becoming a tad tame, inching toward harmless vulgarity, complete with a buffet.
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At the dawn of new century, Vegas finally found its heart. The brand was debauchery, or at least the prospect of it: What Happens Here, Stays Here. Straight-laced visitors could do in Vegas what they were ashamed to do at home. That was something of a pretense, too, of course, as everything in Vegas is. What most people do in Vegas is eat to excess and be entertained, which is no different from the principal activities that occupy the population from sea to streaming sea.
The new Vegas commercials were launched in late 2002. While the “What Happens Here Stays Here” campaign had no references to gambling, the NFL refused to allow the ads to air during the Super Bowl in 2003. Back then, professional sports leagues quaintly feared that any association with gambling might corrupt the “integrity of the game.” That refusal drew attention to the campaign and gave it a massive boost. And thus Vegas had the most successful American city slogan, save for I(heart)NY.
The major sports leagues refused to put teams in Las Vegas due to its association with gambling. But gamblers like to bet on sports and it offended owners that money was being made on their games without them getting a cut. Integrity’s days were numbered, however. Gary Bettman’s NHL was first in, with the Golden Knights beginning play in 2017. The NFL arrived in 2020, with the Raiders moving from Oakland. And now the crown jewel has arrived, Super Bowl LVIII.
In 2020, Las Vegas updated its slogan to “What Happens Here, Only Happens Here.” By 2020, gambling was legalized and promoted everywhere and by seemingly everyone. Governments were as hooked on the revenue as the bettors. The sports leagues went all in. A typical NFL broadcast today includes more time devoted to gambling ads than the actual time the ball is in play.
In 2004, I wrote a Super Bowl column ahead of the iteration in Houston that year, using the game as a handy touchstone of contemporary culture. I noted that Janet Jackson, the booked halftime headliner, was a suitable representative of the pornification of pop culture. Then came the wardrobe malfunction. I had written better than I knew.
So it goes. Twenty years ago the NFL was squeamish about gambling. Now it is its own chief bookie.
Welcome to Las Vegas, where what happens here now happens everywhere.
National Post
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